Healing
by mistressinwaiting
Summary: Kabuto had always been the smarter villain. Always. So it shouldn't have surprised either Naruto or Sasuke that he'd use Sakura as bait to get to them. But they were surprised. And they were going to get their teammate back. No matter the circumstances.
1. Part One, Prologue: He's Back

Her head pounded, but she was used to it. It was one of the after-effects of drinking the night before, and drinking was something she did most of the time. To say she wasn't used to it would have shamed her terribly. She had been drinking for—how long was it already? Ten years? Twenty? Maybe . . . _forty_ already? Who had really kept track of such trivial things?

There was a knock on her door. It was a regular sounding one, one that asked for permission to come into the room. But with her head pounding, Tsunade had thought it to be a hundred times louder than it was supposed to be. Forcing herself to sit up right, she barked out, "Come in!" And as the door opened, Tsunade wiped the drool off of her face with her sleeve.

It was Shizune, her face grim, but Tsunade didn't think much of it. The girl's face was _always_ so serious. And she wondered why she didn't have a man yet. She was always so up-tight. She needed to let go, needed to have some fun. When was the last time she did that again?

"Ugh, this _better_ be something good if you risked getting me up on the wrong side of bed today." the Hokage said, her head now being propped up by one of her arms. She had this horribly dull expression on her face that almost dared the situation to become even more tedious than it already was.

"Naruto's team is back," the ebony-haired woman said, the door opening behind her.

"Yes, and what's so special about that?"

". . . Uchiha Sasuke is with them."

There was a loud crashing sound coming from the opening. The broken vase forgotten as the two women turned around to see Sakura standing in the doorway, overwrought, her eyes wide with shock.


	2. Part One, Chapter One: Finding Sakura

The room had filled with silence. A very thick silence. And a very tense one, too. Everyone kept a staid face. Everyone kept their guards up. After all, there was a criminal—well, _ex_-criminal—in the room. A mistake could have proved to be the most fatal thing to do right now. Everyone knew that. Everyone _except_ Uzumaki Naruto who had on his face the goofiest grin ever. He was the only one laid back and relaxed. To him, there was no danger. No danger _at all_. As though the Uchiha standing next to him had _not_ tried to kill him time and time before.

"Aw, come on, Granny!" he said, the happiest he had been in all year long. "He came back _willingly_! That _has_ to lessen his sentence by a whole lot! Can't you just let us go and celebrate now?"

Tsunade felt the need to strangle the boy. Did he _not_ know how serious the situation was? She felt as though she'd be inflicted with a headache shortly after this conversation ended. "Naruto, I've told you before: it isn't as easy as you _think_ it is! Sasuke had left the village, joined the ranks of another missing nin—Orochimaru of all people, might I add! Then he even joined the Akatsuki, attacked the Raikage's brother and the rest of the village leaders at the summit, and tried to kill _my_ apprentice! Do you think I can just let him go all free and with_out_ punishment?"

"But he got rid of three highly dangerous criminals (A/N: Orochimaru, Deidara, and Itachi) all by himself! Plus, he helped us get rid of Madara and Kabuto! That _has_ to count for something!"

Tsunade sighed. "Yes, yes, it does, Naruto. But—"

"Tsunade-sama!" The door slammed open then, and the Hokage felt the need to hit her head against her desk multiple times. She already had a big problem on her hands, what with Sasuke returning. _Now what?_

"Whatever it is, Shizune, I'm _sure_ it can wait." But when she saw the worried look on her assistant's face, she immediately regretted her statement.

"No, it can't. And trust me, Tsunade-sama, you'd _want_ to hear this." Shizune said. She took a glance at the other people in the room. For a while, it seemed as though she was debating whether or not to tell them the news too. But her decision was clear when she walked over to the blonde woman and whispered it into her ear.

"_WHAT_?" Tsunade roared. Needless to say, she was not pleased. Not pleased at all. "THAT LITTLE _IDIOT_! You three!" She didn't even bother to compose herself when speaking to Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato who all flinched when she addressed them. "You watch the Uchiha! If I hear _any_ word of trouble or complaint, C-ranked missions for a whole month! For _all_ of you! Do you hear me?" And with that, she and Shizune scurried out of the room in a hurry of the lifetime.

"_Um_ . . . what just happened?" Naruto asked, recovering from what might have been the worst fright of his life.

Kakashi just shrugged. "Well, it looks as if we've been assigned baby-sitting duty."

At that, Sasuke glared at his old sensei.

"I use that term loosely, Sasuke."

Regardless, the glare didn't lessen, but he did turn away after a little while. It was . . . strange. He hadn't been back in the village—well, if you could call it a village still after all it's been through and since most of it was being rebuilt at the moment—in _what_? Maybe four years tops? And yet, he felt nothing. Not a bit of happiness. Not a bit of regret. Just . . . a bit of nostalgia. He had never thought he'd be back in the Hokage's office, just standing there with his genin team—minus Sakura and plus Yamato at the moment. It was just unnerving, and he didn't like it.

"Don't forget your promise, Dobe." he said.

But Naruto's smile didn't falter. He threw his arms behind his head, and his goofy smile seemed to grow bigger. "Eh, quiet your worrying, Teme. When have I _ever_ broken a promise? Take my promise to Sakura-chan! I brought you back, didn't I? It took a while, but I did it! I beat some sense into ya, and you came home!"

Sasuke scoffed. Something told him he'd never hear the end of it, but if that was all he had to endure to get to the Elders then he'd bear with it, for the sake of his clan.

"Oh, and speaking of Sakura-chan,"—the Kyuubi-container's head shot around the room—"where is she? She should've been here."

"Perhaps she is busy," Yamato suggested. "Shizune did seem a bit concerned about something. Maybe something's up at the hospital."

And as that conversation went on, Sasuke's mind went back to what Shizune had tried to keep from them. It was a good attempt, he mused, but he still heard the words "attempted suicide" in the same sentence as Sakura's name. He didn't give a damn, though. He had cut off all bonds. There was no reason to worry about her anymore, despite the little voice in his head that continued to argue with him.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

She woke up, something she had not hoped for. She saw the familiar ceiling of the hospital. She didn't know which room she was in, though. All the rooms were the same, just numbered differently. She closed her eyes shut once more and almost laughed at the irony. She would have laughed at the irony if her chest didn't hurt so much. She never would have thought she'd wind up being a patient at the very hospital she worked at and right out of the ER, no less. It was pneumonia that plagued her now, she deduced from her condition.

"We know you're awake, Sakura."

She inwardly groaned. She did not want to deal with anyone right now. She did not want to explain to them her stupidity. She hadn't been thinking. In fact, she hadn't even realized what she had done until she had hit the water. It was stupid. She wanted to scream at herself for even doing such a thing. She hated herself for being so weak, for doing something like that to herself just because of _him_.

She heard an exhalation of breath. "Ino, you stay with her. If her condition becomes unstable again, contact either Shizune or me." There were footsteps. Then, a door closed. Silence fell upon the room.

Sakura didn't know what was worse: the fact that she had tried to kill herself or the fact that it was her best friend who was stifling wails. "I didn't die, Ino," she said, her eyes fluttering open. She saw that the girl was at her bedside, her eyes red probably from crying.

"But you almost did! You tried to kill yourself!" the intensity of her friend's voice stung Sakura's ears. "You tried to take yourself away from _us_! Away from here! Away from everyone who _cares_ about you!" She quieted when Sakura struggled to prop herself up on the bed. ". . . Why did you do it? Was it because of _him_? Was it because he's back? You shouldn't be doing this to yourself. Didn't you say that his return was all that you ever wanted? Why aren't you happy that he's home?"

"I don't know…"

"What do you mean you don't know?" Ino asked, incredulously. Her voice, a whisper then, now rose again to a scream. "What do you mean you don't know? Sakura, you tried to take your _life_! How can you _not_ know why?"

"I DON'T KNOW, INO, _OKAY_? I JUST _DON'T_!" The rosette found it strange that she was more and more easily frustrated now. "I just . . . just… _Ugh_! My mind went blank the minute I heard he was back. I was . . . I was _scared_, so frightened . . . like I've never been before in my life. I don't know _why_ he's back, after all he's done… I can't forgive him…" Her mind went back to their last confrontation. "I can't . . . not after all that he's done… I wanted him back, yes, but my mind's reeling now. I don't know how I feel about his return. I just know that I'm _not_ happy. I'm not, Ino, I'm really not."

She shortly found herself in Ino's arms, the girl now trembling. It brought back memories, memories of when she saw Sasuke out of his coma from after his first encounter with Itachi all those years back when. It now hit her exactly how much anxiety she had caused for her friend.

"Gomennasai, Ino…"

"Just don't you _dare_ do that again, okay?" She had stopped trying to suppress her cries. "Don't you dare do anything as _stupid_ as that…" She emphasized the word stupid more than needed. "You have friends here you can talk to, remember that. Nothing needs you to take your life. Don't you _dare_ try and pull something like that _ever_ again! Promise me you won't ever do something like this again! _Promise_ me!"

"I promise, Ino… I—"

"Where's Sakura-chan, Shizune?" a loud voice asked from outside of the room.

Ino _tsk_ed, releasing her friend and wiping away her tears. She walked over to the door and pressed her ear against it, trying to see how close the conversation was.

"Naruto! Be quieter! Some patients are asleep, and—"

Her eyes widened. "They're just outside of the room," she explained. "Naruto probably caught Shizune off guard just when she was about to come in and check on you. It sounds like Kakashi and Sasuke are with him, and—_hey_!" She had just lifted her ear off of the door, and her gaze had returned to where her friend was _supposed_ to be resting. "Just where do you think you're _going_?"

Pulling out the IV needles from her arm, Sakura had jumped out of her bed. She had gone to the open window, her right foot was now perched on the sill.

"You should be in bed!" Ino scolded her.

But Sakura just shrugged. "Is there a need to stay in the hospital, though?" she asked, her question implying something else. _I'd rather be home…_ "I've only got a small cold now. It'll pass over, and it's nothing too big I can't handle." She was almost out of the room until Ino spoke again.

"Are you running because of _Sasuke_?"

Her body froze, her face turning completely grim. Her lips stretched into a hard line, and her eyes were downcast. "No…" she said after a long while. _I'm not doing this because of _him_. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not._ She told herself that over and over again, but she knew she couldn't trick herself. "I'm doing it to save my ears. Imagine what'll happen when Naruto finds out about what I tried to do." she added, looking back at her friend. "Like Shikamaru says, it'll be _really_ troublesome, and I don't feel like dealing with him right now."

Unable to argue with her, Ino just sighed. "_Fine_," she gave up any hope for reasoning. "But I'm going with you. You need someone now, and I'm not leaving you alone." Before she said anything else, she paused to think about her words, biting her lower lip.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, turning to her suddenly quiet friend.

The question was all the push Ino needed to speak her mind. "Try and forfeit your life again, Forehead, and it'll be _me_ who will take your head."

Sakura scoffed. "Yeah, right, as if _you_ could ever beat me, Pig."

And with that, they were out of the hospital, jumping from roof to roof—the day's earlier scandal a following and clinging shadow.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"What do you mean she's not working today?" Naruto's loud scream could have been heard by those who lived in Suna. And for those around him, his yell had taken a pretty good toll on their ears.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Shizune's eyes twitched. Finishing Tsunade's paperwork seemed all too good right now. _Remember, Shizune,_ she thought to herself. _You can_not_ let him know about Sakura's attempted suicide. Tsunade would have your head!_ "Naruto," she said. "Sakura is not here at the moment. In fact, she's not supposed to be working today, and—"

"_WHAT_?"

It took Shizune, Kakashi, and Sasuke a lot of willpower to _not_ punch the idiot in the face right now. (Yamato had been lucky. He was just called away to do a border patrol.) Why couldn't Naruto ever be quiet for _once_?

"That _can't_ be right!" the blonde continued. "Sakura's _always_ working if she doesn't have a mission!"

"Well, today, she—"

"You know, instead of trying to hide what happened earlier today, you might want to concentrate on the patient in the room behind you," Kakashi said, his nose finally out of his little orange book. "If you had done that instead then _maybe_ you'd have realize that the room is unoccupied at the moment."

"_WHAT_?" Now, it was Shizune's turn to hurt everyone's ears. They barely saw her turn around before the door to the hospital room flew opened. And like Kakashi had said, the room was void of any inhabitants. "Damn…" She really wanted to punch something now. "I should have known better than to leave Ino with her… Oh, Tsunade's not going to be happy when she finds out Sakura—"

"Hey! I thought you said Sakura _wasn't_ here today!"

Shizune's mouth instantaneously shut. She had forgotten about the other people with her. "Well, she—" Taking her time to turn around to speak to Naruto, she tried to think of an excuse. It was hard for her. After all, she didn't have the rosette's talent of lying on the spot. "Sakura has . . . has been doing numerous . . . a whole lot of errands for the Hokage, and she—"

"Cut the crap, Shizune!" Naruto yelled, his voice now callused with anger and annoyance. He didn't like it when someone hid something from him. And he hated it even more so if that someone couldn't even make a good attempt at it. "_Where's Sakura-chan_?"

The woman sighed, knowing very well that she had to give him an answer and fast. "Fine, but you didn't hear this from _me_." Her head turned side to side, making sure no one else was around. She made it seem as though she really were going to tell the boy the truth, but she only did so as to gain more time to think up a pretext. "Today, Sakura . . . she . . . well, she overworked herself and worked herself tired. She's done it quite a few couple of times before but, this time, she _really_ outdid herself, and she . . . well, she fainted. Nothing new, but her chakra had been intolerably low, and so she was admitted into the hospital just a little over an hour ago and put in this very room. And . . . that's it." Her eyes shifted from each guy, just hoping that they wouldn't catch the lies in her story. But when Naruto opened his mouth, she braced herself for the worst.

". . . But then why were you trying so hard to hide that from us?"

Shizune blinked her eyes a couple of times, unable to believe what she had just heard. _Whew!_ She inwardly let out her held breath. _For a moment there, I thought he had caught on…_ "Well," she scratched her head. Could she continue with the story? "You know Sakura. She didn't want you to worry about her. It was nothing serious, but she made Tsunade-sama and I _promise_ we wouldn't tell you. And you know how scary she is when she holds up her end of a threat. I just didn't want to be on the receiving end of her punches." _Yes, go, girl! That story should do the trick!_

And just as Shizune predicted, Naruto remained as oblivious as ever. "Oh, you don't have to worry, Shizune! I'll make sure Sakura understands that _I_ forced the information out of you! She'll probably end up punching _me_ once she hears how _'forcible'_ I was being!"

Shizune laughed along with him, but she knew she wasn't out of the forest yet. She probably hadn't been able to pull the wool over Kakashi and Sasuke's eyes.

"But why did Sakura leave the room with Ino? Shouldn't she be resting?"

"Oh, well, Naruto, you do the same thing, too! You should know better than anyone that people _hate_ being in the hospital!" Shizune answered this with ease. She was grateful that the other two men were keeping quiet. "Plus, news travels fast! Sakura probably heard that Sasuke was back in the village and wanted to see him as quickly as possible!"

"But she doesn't know he's _here_!" Naruto gasped and was back to yelling again, his anger at Shizune for keeping a secret now gone. "Wait, Sakura-chan!" he yelled as he ran off. "Don't tire yourself out and faint again! I'll bring Sasuke to you!"

Shizune giggled at the Jinchūriki's antics. She could always trust Naruto to give her a good laugh. But when she realized that Kakashi and Sasuke weren't following the blonde, her laughter ceased. "Couldn't fool you two, _huh_?" she asked, crossing her arms.

It was Kakashi's turn to chuckle, putting away his favorite book. "Anybody in their right mind would have realized you were lying the minute you spoke your first _word_, Shizune." His face was horribly serious now. "I'm guessing Sakura's little stunt was the reason why you and Tsunade rushed over here?"

Sasuke's eyes shifted to the jonin. _So he had heard,_ he thought.

The lady nodded, exhaling an exasperated breath. "I'd be grateful if you didn't tell Naruto about it. It'd give Sakura more trouble, and I don't want her having another nervous breakdown." She eyes shifted to the Uchiha, a small glare aimed right at him. "One's already _enough_. I don't want her hurt again."

"Right," Kakashi sighed, patting Sasuke's shoulder. "Come on, let's go before Naruto figures out we aren't following him."

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

When the two men got outside, Naruto was pacing around in a circle. Obvious to the two, he was fuming mad. "What took you so _long_?" he asked. "Sakura could have fainted again, trying to search for you, Sasuke!"

But the Uchiha gave no hint of any concern. "It's not my problem."

Naruto ignored that. From everything that had happened, he had known that Sasuke would much less care about them. Just getting him to follow them around the village was more than enough, for today. "Okay! First stop on our search, to Sakura's house!" But when he lifted up his leg to start walking, he immediately paused and turned back to the two behind him with a grimace. "_Um_ . . ." he started to say, "Do any of you know where that is?"

"Che, all these years and you still don't know where she _lives_?"

"Oh, shut it, Teme! Half of Konoha was re-built only a while ago! The buildings are all different now!"

"And you knew where her house was _before_?" Kakashi asked, slightly amused at this little scene in front of him.

"_Uh_, well . . . no."

"_Che_, Dobe."

"I thought I told you to _shut up_, Teme!" And when Naruto waved his fist, he hit something. Or rather some_one_. And if Hyuga Neji had been there, oh, Naruto would have been _dead_. "Ah! _Hinata-chan_! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you there!"

Pinching her nose, Hinata blushed red. "It's . . . it's okay, N-Naruto-kun…" She really hoped her nose wasn't broken. Her gaze drifted over to Kakashi then to Sasuke at whom her eyes widened at the sight. "Oh, you . . . you're back, Sasuke-kun. I heard the . . . the villagers talking. What . . . what are you doing here at the hospital, though? Sh-shouldn't you be at the Ho-Hokage's office?"

"Well, wouldn't you know it, Hinata-chan? Granny Tsunade kicked us out and stuck him with us, and we have no idea _why_!" Naruto said. He then explained every little detail to her, of how Tsunade seemed really worried and how they ended up at the hospital while looking for Sakura. It was a lot of talking on Naruto's part, and he even added movement, but he spoke so fast that he crammed the long story into three minutes.

"Oh, she _overworked_ herself again?" Hinata asked, her voice rose two octaves. "But . . . but I thought she—"

"_Err_, um, Hinata," Kakashi said before the girl could let out the happening of Sakura's attempted suicide. "From what we deduced form Shizune, Sakura has already left the hospital with Ino. Do you have any idea where they could be right now?"

"Oh, _um_, well . . ." Hinata put a hand to her mouth in a thinking pose. She racked her brain for the usual places, but the first one that came to her was… "I believe . . . I believe they would go back home first. I could t-take you there if you'd like…"

"Gee, thanks, Hinata-chan!" Naruto said. "What would we have done without you?"

Again, red painted Hinata's cheeks. "It's . . . it's no problem, Naruto-kun." But when her eyes gazed back at Sasuke, she began to worry. Did his return have anything to do with Sakura's sudden depression? She really hoped not, for Naruto's sake…

* * *

><p><strong>Gomennasai = I'm sorry (formal)<strong>

**Yay! This is my 35th fanfic! Hip-hip-hooray! But now I've got almost ten fanfics I have to finish! Ooh… That might be a problem… Oh well… Might as well give it a try, right? Oh, and you don't have to read this summary below. It's for me to remember the summary I wrote for this first part of the fanfic cuz this will be split into three parts.**

**Summary:**

_He came back, but she was tired of being left out, tired of being left behind. And so, Team 7 is without one of its members again, but this time it wasn't missing one of its male members._

**So, yeah, the chapter's done, but I'm not really liking it… The next chapter _will_ be better, I promise you and myself that! But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter too! Thank you and please review!**


	3. Part One, Chapter Two: Butterfly Effect

As Hinata led the male members of the original Team 7 to their destination, she was silent. Of course, walking next to Naruto had that effect on her but not this time. No. This time, she was worried. _Very_ and _extremely_ worried. She had heard from Ino about what Sakura had done. She couldn't believe it. The blonde had been at the hospital, though, and sent the message via Tonton. It was the whole reason why she rushed to the hospital as fast she could—that, and because she had to get Sakura a new set of clothes since the clothes she had worn that day were soaked. She had known that Sakura's condition might have worsened if she stayed in wet clothing, but she wondered now if the situation had been as serious as Ino had said it was. If Sakura was ready to get up and leave the hospital then her life wasn't in as much danger as everyone who knew thought. Plus, Ino _did_ have the tendency of _over_-exaggerating things.

_But then again, Tsunade would probably have done the healing herself, and Sakura would have gotten exceedingly better_, the Hyuga thought, not wanting to blame Ino for her anxiety. _And if she had woken up, she'd most certainly have wanted out of there. She's never liked hospitals, though she herself works at one, and Ino would have most likely given into her pleas. They should be back at home, but if they're not then where would they be?_

"Hey, Hinata-chan, are you alright?" Naruto asked, a bit worried for the girl. After all, she did faint a lot. Maybe she felt light-headed again.

"Oh! Of . . . of course, Naruto-kun!" She hoped she had not made it obvious that something bothered her. It would not help Sakura if too many people crowd over her. "I . . . I was just thinking of s-something to say!"

"Oh, really?" the blonde asked. "Eh, it's no biggie, Hinata-chan. If you don't have anything to say then don't chew yourself out about it. It's nice spending time with you even if you don't talk."

And with those words, Hinata forgot about her worries for a moment, her face donning a bright red.

Sasuke almost raised an eyebrow. _Almost_. If his memory was correct, Hinata should have fainted by now, given how close she was to her crush and how Naruto had just commented her. He wondered if her newfound self-assurance was just a result of participating in the war. And if it was, how big of an effect did the war have on others? He thought about one person in general but quickly shook the thought away. Why would he be thinking about _her_ anyway?

It was shortly after that when the group stopped in front of a small but humble building. It differed from any surrounding buildings in that it was decorated a bit more and, from the outside, it looked as though it'd fit all the common accommodations a house would hold (e.g. a living room, kitchen, dining room, bathrooms,)—perhaps a few more upstairs bedrooms than necessary. The hanging flower pots and plants were the only thing that really stood out at first glance but, other than that, the house was very ordinary. It looked very cozy too.

Hinata walked over to the front door, taking out a small key from her pocket. "_Oh_?" But when she reached the entrance, she realized that the door was already unlocked. Someone also had the nerve to forget to close the door behind them.

"What's wrong, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, wondering why the girl seemed so surprised.

"Oh, it's . . . it's nothing. One of the other girls is probably home."

"One of the _others_?" he asked, confusion clearly written on his face.

"Oh, didn't . . . didn't Sakura-chan tell you?" the Hyuga heiress asked, her face mirrored Naruto's. "She, Ino, Tenten, and I are all . . . we're all l-l-living together." She felt as though she had forgotten someone, though. "Sakura-chan suggested it because m-most of the villagers were still h-homeless. Plus, Kurenai-sensei . . . she just h-had her baby. She lives just a . . . a few houses down from us, and s-so it'd be a convenience for her i-i-if we were nearby."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Naruto beamed. "Sakura-chan sure is smart!" He said that last sentence almost loudly and boastfully. His eyes shifted towards the Uchiha, trying to see if his words had any effect on the boy. No luck there.

However, his words did have an effect on Hinata whose eyes were now downcast. _Of course, he'd be proud of her…_ she thought, not even a hint of covetousness in her inner voice. _She's his teammate… Plus, this will reflect on him when he becomes Hokage…_ But though she wasn't jealous, she was sad that it wasn't her who was complimented by him.

"So, Hinata, mind welcoming us in?" Kakashi asked. He had noticed the girl's suddenly mood change. He knew Naruto was an idiot at times, and this was one of them. He didn't mean to intrude. He just wanted to change the subject.

"Oh, r-right! I'm sorry t-to h-h-have k-kept you g-g-guys w-w-waiting! Pl-please come on in!"

And as she opened the door, Naruto made a small observation. Hinata stuttered more when she was embarrassed.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Tsunade grimaced. She had had her hands full before, what with what her apprentice had tried to do, so she couldn't listen to whatever report Naruto's team had to give her. But now that she heard it, she just couldn't believe her ears. Was what Yamato telling her really _true_? Did the Elders _really_…?

"It's a bit skeptical," the man said. "And I know it may be incredulous—"

"Gee, you _think_?" she snapped. She groaned, rubbing her temple. "I _knew_ the Elders were despicable, but _this_! I know they were only trying to protect Konoha," Tsunade said, able to see their reason why, "but killing off a whole clan and then making it seem like _Itachi_ was the bad guy! That's too much… And because of what they did, we were thrown into such a horrible position… The war, Sasuke's _almost_ insanity, and…" She felt as though she needed to hit something. Where was her sake? "Who else knows about this?"

"Naruto, Kakashi, and I." he said. But then, after a thought, he added, "Madara and Sasuke included," just to clarify things a bit.

"_Sakura_ doesn't know?" An eyebrow rose. She found it strange that, out of all the original members of Team 7, the cherry blossom was the only one who did not know this very crucial detail.

"No, I'm afraid not."

The Hokage sighed and nodded her head, trying to think of an idea. She couldn't let this go. People _needed_ to know. "For now, I don't know what we'll do, but I'm going to try to find some evidence of what Madara told you. You can choose to tell others if you'd like—Sakura, especially. She shouldn't be kept in the dark like this. But, a word of caution, _don't_ let the elders know we know."

"_Hai_!" And with that, Yamato disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"What will we do, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, Tonton in her arms. "This . . . this _conspiracy_ can't be left unpunished but, if people were to find out about the Uchiha clan and them wanting to take over Konoha, there's _bound_ to be mixed feelings about this."

"_Mixed feelings_?" Tsunade's voice rose with slight anger. "The Uchiha clan had made _no_ attempts to _show_ that they were going to stage a coup! To massacre a whole clan and using one of the clan members as the scapegoat, the villagers are going to see that as an abuse of power. The other clans will side with Sasuke on this."

". . . I meant Sakura."

The blonde's eyebrow rose again. Her face told Shizune she wanted an explanation.

"She was willing to _kill_ him, the man she loves… She thought he had gone crazy when she faced off with him. She didn't know of his reason for wanting to destroy his home village, but she still tried to kill him… Even though she wasn't successful, she still tried… She might take the news maybe even harder than Sasuke did. Her mental health isn't really at its best right now, and so I worry about her… If she were to find out _then_…?"

Tsunade stayed silent. Even _she_ didn't know how her apprentice would take this new piece of information.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"_Ino_!" Hinata called as she entered the building, the male members of Team 7 following behind shortly. "Are you home?"

"Yeah, I'm upstairs, Hinata!" Ino's muffled voice came down the stairs that stood to the side, a clear view of them from the doorway.

"Is . . . is Sakura with you?" Hinata asked, Kakashi closing the front door.

"Oh, _Sakura_? Yeah, she's up here with us! She's alright, but she's still a bit tired, what from her earlier fiasco!"

Hinata decided not to ask any more questions. From the sound of the blonde's voice, the Hyuga could tell that Ino was busy. And from the vexed way Ino answered her last question, Hinata realized Sakura's condition was probably worsening again, something the heiress hoped not to be a reality. If only she hadn't come up with that jutsu in the first place, maybe her mental health would've taken such a toll…

"Um . . . Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei, do you . . . would you guys like some refreshments?"

"Oh, it's okay, Hinata-chan!" Naruto beamed, oblivious to the observations Hinata had made just from her friend's voice. "We just came to see Sakura-chan, so we'll just go right on up and—"

"Actually, Naruto," Kakashi said, "let's take Hinata up on her offer, okay? After all, we came all this way, and it would be a _waste_ if we didn't spend any more time here. Plus, who knows when we'll be invited to an _all_-kunoichi household again?"

"_Mm_… Okay, Kakashi-sensei!"

Hinata let out her held breath. It would not be good for anyone to visit Sakura at the moment—her gaze drifted to the last Uchiha—especially _not_ him. "Um . . . pl-please have a seat in the living room," she addressed the men. "I'll have the t-t-tea ready in j-just a moment."

And so, the boys were left alone in the main room as Hinata went to get their drinks. Nothing much really happened. It was all just awkward silence between the two ex-teammates while Kakashi read his book. Sasuke, having nothing to do, just glanced around the house. It wasn't anything special really, and it didn't seem like there had been much thought that went into decorating. But then again, who could complain? With the war just ended, there probably wasn't much the girls could have done with their home. They probably didn't even have the time to decorate either.

"Um . . . _so,_ Teme! How was your first day back?" was Naruto's poor attempt at making a conversation.

"_Che_, you should know, Dobe. I was stuck with _you_ all day along." But once a large grin popped onto Naruto's face and Kakashi's eye rose up from his book, Sasuke immediately realized it was the wrong thing to say.

"_Aw_! You hear that, Kakashi-sensei? He _misses_ Sakura-chan!"

A glare. "I do _not_."

"Oh, come now, Sasuke," the jonin decided to jump in. "There's no need to deny anything. We—"

"I—do—_not_—miss—her," the Uchiha said through gritted teeth. "She's—_annoying_."

"Don't you insult her!"

The men all turned to the doorway where a fuming redheaded kunoichi stood. In her hands was a bloody cloth.

"I don't understand _how_ in the _world_ you got a teammate like her! I just _don't_! You're just a cold and heartless bastard who _really_ doesn't deserve someone like her as even your _ex_-teammate!"

"Hn, Karin."

"Here's the tea, s-sorry to have kept—Oh, Ka . . . Karin-san." So _that's_ who Hinata had forgotten to mention before. Oh, how embarrassing. She had just brought in Karin's almost murderer into the house she was living in.

But before she could say anything else, the ex-Team Hebi member had stormed out of the room. Hinata didn't know what to do then. She knew that Karin wasn't on good terms with Sasuke anymore. It had been hazardous and probably tormenting for Karin to even _be_ in the same house as the person who had tried to kill her. "Um . . ." She could feel her face turning red for her mistake. She placed the tray down on the coffee table. "Please . . . help yourselves."

And then she ran out of the room and into the kitchen. Her eyes widened when she saw Karin wash the bloody handkerchief. Had she been holding that before?

It was almost as if Karin could sense the girl's presence. (A/N: oh, wait, she could. _Duh_! She's a sensor nin!) "If you're worried about me then don't be," she said. "I might not be over it yet, but I'm getting there."

"Ka . . . Karin-san…"

The redhead sighed. She turned off the faucet and, with her hands on the counter, she leaned against it. Her head drooped, her eyes closed. "I need to get used to his presence here in Konoha anyway. I had dreaded this little meeting, but now it's a milestone that I've overcome. There's nothing left for you to worry about me for." She turned to the Hyuga then, her watery eyes now opened. "You should be more worried about Sakura."

"_What_?" Hinata eyed the still blood-spattered cloth. "What . . . was she bleeding?"

"No, coughing up blood."

Her white eyes widened. "_What_? But . . . but I thought she—"

"She left the hospital because she didn't _want_ to be there anymore, not because she was feeling better. The stupid fool…" Karin twisted the wet cloth over the sink, and bloody water was squeezed out of it. The cloth was still red. Again, she turned on the faucet and washed the fabric again. "When she jumped, that's probably when she broke a couple of her ribs. It punctured one of her lungs, and so the blood-coughing… She didn't stay long enough to have someone look at it."

Hinata remained quiet. Sakura must have been in a lot of pain… Oh, how she wished she could switch places with her friend so that Sakura needn't go through such suffering anymore.

The faucet was turned off, and Karin glanced back at the Hyuga. "Daijōbu, she's healed herself now. I also took a look at her too. She should be at a hundred percent after a good night's sleep." She coiled the handkerchief again, but again it remained a pinkish red.

"But . . . are _you_ okay, Karin-san?"

The girl _che_ed while also deeming the cloth to be a lost cause. "I'm _fine_." And she threw the fabric into a nearby trash can.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Her spring green eyes opened to her bedroom ceiling this time. She almost smiled. Thank god, she wasn't at the hospital anymore. It was sickening there.

"You woke up earlier than expected," Ino stated. She was sitting in the corner, her arms crossed.

Sakura sat up then, shrugging. "I only healed _two_ broken ribs, Ino. It didn't require much chakra." Why did her head hurt so much?

"Well, that didn't seem to be the case afterwards when you _fainted_!"

The rosette suppressed an urge to roll her eyes. Ino was really a worrywart sometimes. What a very good friend, she was. Sometimes, Sakura wondered why it wasn't her teammates who were like this. You'd think that, after all that they've been through… She sighed, not wanting to think about it anymore. It would only upset her even further. It would have done her no good to dwell on such thoughts.

She threw off the blanket and stood from her bed.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

"For a walk." Her head was throbbing awfully. Perhaps some fresh air would do her some good.

"Oh, no, you're _not_!" Ino almost screamed, barricading the door with her body. Was Sakura trying to _kill_ herself? Scratch that, she already _tried_ to. What was she up to _now_? "I may have let you out of the hospital, but I'm _not_ going to let you hurt your health any longer!"

The pinkette scoffed. Why did her friends have to be the loudest in all of Konoha? _Why_?

"I'm staying in the house, Ino," she said, almost affronted. Did Ino _think_ she was stupid or something? She _was_ a medic. She knew when she reached her limit. "It's boring to be lying around and doing nothing. Plus, I want something to eat."

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"Exactly what are you planning to do, Dobe?"

"_Hm_?" He paused mid-slurp. Hinata had been gracious enough to give Naruto a bowl of miso ramen rather than a cup of tea, much to Kakashi and Sasuke's dismay. The blonde really ate too much ramen. "Oh, _that_." He finished his mouthful first, wanting his mouth with his sleeve and making a note to himself to wash his jacket. "Don't worry your head off, Teme. Yamato's briefing Granny Tsunade as we speak! If she decides to let us tell more people then we go on ahead and tell our generation about it first. We'll need Shikamaru's brains, after all, if we're going to deal with _those_ cranky old geezers. And if the rest of them do find out then they'll know you were driven to do what you did because of your family and not because you went completely bonkers."

A glare was shot his way.

"Oh, _come on_, Teme! You really _did_ seem as though you had lost it! And at least, I'm _trying_ to do this in a _civil_ way!" Naruto protested. "I mean, compare your plan to mine! _My_ plan's not going to kill _thousands_ of _innocent_ people, is it?"

Sasuke didn't retort. Looking back, he had been pretty stupid to think killing off a whole village would restore his clan's honor. If he had gone through with it, it would have only resolved to more violence. What was the point to killing all those people if his targets were _only_ the Konoha Elders? A few thousand only for two, it didn't seem fair, and so it was better this way. Besides, Itachi had wanted to keep Konoha safe. It was that reason why his brother's name was slandered now. If he had destroyed Konoha then he knew he wouldn't be able to face his brother in the afterlife. That was the only reason he wasn't going to attack the village. The _only_ reason.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said, putting a hand to his shoulder. "The Elders _will_ pay for what they did, I promise you that. Once everything comes to light, they'll regret they _ever_ made that decision."

"_See_, Teme?" Naruto asked, throwing his arms behind his head and a goofy smile on his face. "Even Kakashi-sensei knows it's only a matter of time before the Elders pay for making Itachi kill off your whole clan."

"_What_?"

The boys all turned to the doorway again but, instead of being met with an angry redhead, this time it was pink-head who stood at the entrance to the living room. Her fists clenched and shaking, Sakura looked as though she'd explode. Ino, who stood behind her, had her hands to her mouth, clearly shocked by the news.

"Sa . . . Sakura-chan…" Naruto said, his smiling face completely turned around. How long had she been standing there? How much had she heard? "I—" But the boy couldn't get any more words out as his teammate walked over to him and slapped him across the face.

"When did you plan on telling me this, _huh_? _When_?" she asked, her eyes watery and her face flushed. Her headache increased tenfold, but she ignored it as best as she could. "_Were_ you even going to _tell_ me?"

"Sakura-chan, I _wanted_ to, but—" He looked to Kakashi for help.

"But _what_?" she asked, her voice rose in anger. "I was too _weak_ to do anything about it? That I was too _annoying_, that I couldn't even be _trusted_ because I'm the _Hokage's_ apprentice? Is that was this is about? Were you afraid I'd _betray_ you?"

"Of course not, Sakura-chan, no, I'd _never_—"

"I _trusted_ you! I really _trusted_ you!" She grabbed the collar of his shirt and started shaking him. Tears flew from her eyes. "I can't _believe_ you'd keep something like _this_ from me!" Ino was trying to pry her fingers off of Naruto by this point. Sakura's hands were digging into the boy's skin. "You _knew_ how I felt! You _know_ I still… I was going to _KILL _him!" The platinum blonde was able to hold back the shrieking rosette at the moment, but the task continued to be a tussle. "Didn't you _think_ that this was something I should have _known_? I was going to _kill_ him, Naruto! Even if I couldn't have done it, you should have at least… LET GO OF ME, _PIG_!"

"Sakura." Kakashi stood from his seat, his hands up as if he had just been caught by the police. He tried to hush her. "Understand that we had _no_ intention of hurting you, and—"

"But you never had the intention of _telling_ me either, _did you_?" She shook off her friend and shoved the jonin. "I worried my whole heart out"—she shoved him again—"just because I thought he had gone _crazy_! And yet, it was those freaking _Elders_ who were really the problem!"

It was around that time when Hinata and Karin rushed into the room, their eyes widening when they saw the rosette. "Wh-what's going on, Sakura-chan? Wh-what's wrong? Wh-why are you screaming?"

But it was around that same time that Sakura decided to leave the room.

"Sakura." Karin grabbed onto the girl's arm but, like with Ino, Sakura shook her off.

"And what about _you_, Karin? Did you know about this, too?" She glared at the redhead before leaving. There was a loud slam. She had gone back outside, much to her girl friends' alarm.

"Nice going," Ino sneered at Naruto. "Really nice job."

"Ino…" Hinata tried to calm her friend. What was going on? Wasn't everything just peachy before? Why did Sakura seem so angry? Wasn't she upstairs sleeping just now?

"You _know_ how she is!" Ino continued to scold him. "She won't take it lightly if you keep something like that from her! Especially when she was trying to _kill_ someone she _loves_! How dense can you _be_? It's okay if you kept it from the rest of _us_ but not _Sakura_! Especially not when she just… You know _what_? Forget it." She shook her head, sighing loudly. "Come on, Karin," she told the sensor nin. "We need to go look for her."

"Wait, I want to go too." Naruto said.

"No!" Ino halfway screamed. She looked ready to maul him. "Just . . . _ugh_, Hinata, you deal with them." She left the task to the Hyuga heiress before leaving with Karin to follow Sakura.

Hinata really had no idea what to do now. She didn't even have the slightest clue as to what was going on. She really didn't, and so she took a look at the men around the room to try and piece things together. Naruto seemed the most distressed.

"I _told_ you we should've told her, Kakashi-sensei!" he snapped. "Look at what just happened! We should've _told_ her!

Kakashi looked a bit more collected but, nevertheless, he too was troubled by how his student had reacted. "Naruto, know that it was for the best. If she had known, how would she have reacted to it back then?"

"At least, she wouldn't have tried to _kill_ him!"

So it had something to do about _that_…

"And then _what_, Naruto? She might have gone for the Elders _herself_. If that were to have happened, not only would _she_ be in danger but so would _Tsunade_ and _Shizune_ too! If Konoha had lost its Hokage then what? The Elders would have free reign! Do you _want_ that?"

Hinata was only more confused. She turned to the last member of Team 7. Sasuke was the only one who stayed quiet. In fact, it looked as though he were having an inner conflict, Hinata observed.

And indeed, he was. When he had seen Sakura again that day at the summit, he had known she was ready to kill him. What he didn't know was that she really had _no idea_ why he was acting the way he did. She had absolutely _no idea_. She was going to kill him because she thought it was best for _everyone_. She had no idea of his pain. In fact, thinking back to the night he had left, Kakashi's decision of keeping the fact a secret from her really did seem like a good idea. If she had known, she might have even felt _more_ pain than he did when he had found out.

He quickly dismissed that last statement. How would _she_ feel more pain? It wasn't even _her_ family that had been ordered dead. She had _no idea_ of his pain. How _dare_ she even make a scene like that! She had _no idea_… No idea at all… Unless . . .

_"You _knew_ how I felt! You know I still…"_

She wasn't going to say that she still _loved_ him, was she? That couldn't have been it. Who could love someone who had tried to destroy their home village? Who could love a monster like _him_?

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

It was raining, raining hard. Pouring, in fact. Pouring cold, almost freezing water. But she still kept walking with no umbrella over her head. It may not have been the smartest thing in the world to do since she had just recovered from near-death, but it didn't cross her mind even _once_ that she might worsen her condition. No. She just kept walking. She needed to blow off some steam. _How_ could they…? How could they keep _that_ from her? Itachi had killed his own clan on the _Elder's_ orders… He had done that, for the sake of the village, not for personal gain… And everyone had thought _he_ was evil when, in fact, it was those _Elders_ who truly were corrupted.

Her face was wet, but she blamed it on the rain. "I'm not crying, I'm not crying. I'm stronger than this," she heard herself saying, but it didn't register to her that she had said those words. It felt to her as though someone else had said it. "I'm not crying, I'm not crying," she repeated. She felt horribly numb, almost as if her mind wasn't connected to her body. Almost as if she were disjointed. It seemed to be a huge effort for her to even move her legs. And despite the almost winter temperatures, her body seemed to be burning. Why was she so _hot_? It was uncomfortable, and she didn't like it.

The wind suddenly blew, howling as it went along, and there was a sensation that sent her to her knees. It was awful… _Terribly_ awful… She was hot and cold and freezing and burning all at the same time, and her head was spinning. It wasn't a good sign, she knew, but it didn't seem to matter to her at all.

"Sakura!"

She didn't even have the strength to groan. _Why can't Ino be any _quieter_?_

"_Sakura_!"

She couldn't even roll her eyes, her eyelids so heavy. _Great, she also brought along Karin… No wonder she found me so quickly…_

But she didn't look back at her two friends who were running towards her. No, she kept on walking away from them, turbulent and chaotic thoughts churning and tossing around in her head like the rotation of a tornado. Her thoughts kept going back to what she had heard, the same things kept resurfacing, no matter how many times she tried to force her brain into simply shutting up. Her thoughts kept returning, doing no good for that throbbing numbness in her noggin.

A hand rested on her shoulder. Had they caught up to her?

"Come on, Sakura." Ino's voice was soft, but Sakura was too delirious to even appreciate her friends running out in the rain just to make sure she was alright. "Let's go home."

Did she even _agree_ to that? Had she fought with them before giving in? She couldn't remember. The only thing she could recall was breaking down and crying into Ino's shoulders before being supported by both the blonde and Karin on the way home. The rain did not lighten on the journey back and, when she reached the house, the clock read a bit after nine. How long had she been out? How long had she been in the rain? Had her tears dried up or was she still crying, the raindrops hiding her tears?

She heard noises, her own name being called more than once. She was glad to be out of the rain, but the sounds weren't helping. Her friends' voices, her teammates' voices . . . all of that were distant and muffled humming. There was almost a ringing in her ears. Or was it a drumming sound? She couldn't tell. Just what was _wrong_ with her? She was tired, _very_ tired. Sleep didn't sound so bad. No. It sounded just right. Sounded _so very_ right. She groaned in frustration and felt her weight break her knees, and unconsciousness swoop down with one fell sweep. She almost missed the worried look that flashed over Sasuke's face. She _almost_ missed it, but she set it aside as just a hallucination. Nothing more than a trick of her mind before darkness took her.

* * *

><p><strong>Daijōbu = don't worry<br>Hai = yes**

**Hm… Compared to the beginning and ending of this chapter, the middle seems as though it was rushed… Oh, well, sorry I didn't update as quickly as possible, but I got stuck somewhere in the middle of this. _Sorry_! But I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!**

**I really thought that Sakura should have been told the truth about the Uchiha massacre instead of being kept in the dark, but oh well… I wonder when Sasuke's coming back in the manga too… Anyone got any ideas how the manga will end up going?**


	4. Part One, Chapter Three: Leaving Konoha

She found herself in the hospital again. She huffed, the dislike evident in her actions. How did she end up back in this wretched place again? She distinctly remembered going home and being back in her own bed. Oh, right… She had let her anger get the better of her and ran out into the rain without even thinking about how it'd affect her pneumonia. She wanted to punch herself. How could she have been so stupid? How could she do that to herself? How could she have let that happen? _How_…? She gave up on scolding herself. It was no use. What was done was done, and there was nothing she could do to change the fact, no matter how much she wanted to turn back time.

She could sense another in the room, hoping that the person was Ino. She really didn't want to stay in this place any longer than necessary. And from what she deduced, Tsunade must have cured her pneumonia by now. There was no need for her to be in the hospital now that she woke up.

Her visitor clicked their tongue then. "My, you've certainly become troublesome…" The stern tenor of Tsunade's voice almost made Sakura groan. All hopes of going back home went out the window, and a lecture was most likely coming, one that Sakura probably did not want to hear. "Exactly what did you plan on accomplishing by _ruining_ your health?"

She sat up, her head drooping with shame. "Gomennasai, I—"

"Do I _want_ your apology?" Tsunade roared, taking the girl by her shoulders and shaking her a bit. She knew it wasn't correct to do so, but she just wanted to get some sense into her apprentice's thick head. "Sakura, just look at yourself! You were admitted into the hospital! _Twice_ in one _day_!" She sounded as if she wanted to cry out herself, almost as if she had had enough of this. "Do you think I'm _happy_ with that? Do you think _anyone's_ happy about that? And not only, but you've been in a freakin' coma for three _days_ already! Do you have any idea how _worried_ everyone's been?"

The rosette spoke not. There was nothing to be said. She couldn't even look her mentor in the eye. She blamed herself because she knew there was no one else to blame. Everything she did she never thought through. She put herself in the situation she was in, and she was the only one who could get herself out. It was just that simple. There was no need to argue or even talk to the Hokage about it. Tsunade had a right to be mad, and so Sakura didn't talk back.

"_ANSWER ME_, HARUNO SAKURA!" the blonde yelled. If she hadn't had good control of her impulses, her hand would have whipped across the pinkette's face. "Just what do you _want_? What do you want to accomplish by doing all this to yourself? By making everyone worry about you, _huh_?" She had lowered her volume, but the dazed stare in the girl's eyes was building up her rage once more. Her control almost wasn't enough to stop her hand from slapping the girl. "_Say_ something!"

". . . Give me a mission."

"_What_?" Her nails dug into Sakura's shoulder blades, so much so that Tsunade knew she had to be bleeding. "You have to be jok—" But the sudden seriousness in her apprentice's emerald orbs silenced her, the last word unable to make its way out of her throat. Tsunade shook her head in disbelief, her hands withdrawing and falling to her sides. "You can't be seri… No… _Impossible_!" This can't be the same girl she trained. "Do you expect me to send _you_, the girl I've viewed almost as a _daughter_, out on a mission just when you've gotten out of a coma? No! Forget it! I won't do such a thing!"

"I'm not asking for anything hard, Tsunade-shisou!" Sakura's voice suddenly found strength as it rose in decibels, the tone of desperateness also escalating. "I just . . . I can't _stay_ in this village anymore… I just can't… Not when _he's_ here… Not when I'm still so…"

"You're doing this because of _him_?" Tsunade scoffed. Since when did Sakura become so pathetic? "Running away won't solve anything! How could you just…?"

"I'm not running away!"

"Then what are you doing?" she called her bluff. "Because I sure as _goddamn Hell_ would like to know!"

Sakura almost winced at the Hokage's harsh words. Sure, Tsunade had used words worse than that with her before, but she had never meant any of them. "I just . . ." The abrupt vigor in her voice disappeared, leaving her words as a whisper. "I just want a break… A break, that's all… I don't think…" She shook her head, her eyes closed and trying to keep her tears in. "I'm not strong enough to deal with any of this… I don't have the stamina to deal with him anymore… And I don't want Naruto to be disappointed… But I don't have the nerve to tackle all of this at once… So _please_…" She begged, her teary eyes finally meeting Tsunade's golden ones. "I just want a break… Can't you understand that? _Please_… I've had enough… I've had enough… I can't stay in a village that would kill its own people… I can't find a piece of mind here anymore… I just can't… I've had _enough_… I've had enough…"

Tsunade didn't know what to do. Whatever happened to her apprentice? Whatever happened to that warm and bubbly girl she had known? It would seem as though Sakura was the one who took the full brunt of the war's toll…

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"Stop taking your anger out on the flowers," Karin said, her voice in a drawl. As she leaned on the wall for the past three hours perhaps, Ino had been mutilating her whole inventory. Her parents would surely be angry about that. "It won't do any good, you know."

Ino stopped her reign of flower disfiguration, slamming down the pair of scissors on the counter. "I know… I'm just . . . I'm just _worried_, you know? I can't _believe_ I'm not allowed to visit her!"

And indeed, she wasn't by Tsunade's decree. In fact, _none_ of the kunoichi were allowed to visit Sakura. Thanks to Ino's stunt three days earlier, Tsunade wouldn't allow _any_ of Sakura's housemates into her hospital room on fear of any of the girls being lulled into helping the cherry blossom escape from her hospitalization again. The same was to be said about the members of Team Kakashi. Not only might they have tried and helped Sakura, but they might have also added onto her stress. And that was something no one wished for. The Hokage hadn't had felt the need to put a restraining order on Sasuke too, but she had made it clear that the Uchiha's sentence would increase in severity if he _dared_ to step within a hundred yards of his sleeping ex-teammate.

"I'm pissed, too…" Karin sighed, the back of her head banged onto the wall. "But we need to trust Tsunade-sama's decision. If she feels it's necessary then we have to go along with it."

"Yeah, yeah, I know that," Ino snapped. She muttered a small apology afterwards to which Karin accepted. It wasn't the blonde's fault. She had been so worried sick about her childhood friend that she hadn't gotten any sleep. It was only naturally that she was easily angered. "Can you check up on her now?"

Karin almost groaned. "I just did so a few _hours_ ago!" Lately, she had become the watch dog for Sakura's worried companions. It wasn't like she minded but, with seven people asking (not including the Uchiha) almost _hourly_, she was becoming a bit taxed. "She was still asleep, Ino. Her chakra was still as quiet as ever. She won't be waking up soon, so don't worry too much."

"Can you blame me?" Ino countered, her hands rubbing her temples. "I just can't believe a medic like her could fall so ill! And right under our noses too!" She wondered how anyone could have missed Sakura's quickly deteriorating health. Were they all so busy that they actually neglected her? "I can't help but blame myself! I shouldn't have helped her out of the hospital that day! I should've made her stay in bed!"

"Ino, you can't blame yourself…" Karin said, knowing that the Yamanaka would break down in tears soon. "Everything's going turn out a-okay. Who knows? Maybe this coma will benefit Sakura."

"Yeah, maybe you're right… But still…" She smacked her hands together and puppy-pouted. "Can you just _please_…?"

Karin clicked her tongue, huffing a small sigh. "Oh, _fine_…" she gave into the girl as seen when she cupped her hands together and made a hand sign, her chakra spiking just a tiny bit. "But I'm telling you she's still—" Her gasp interrupted her sentence, her crimson eyes widening. "She's not in the hospital…" Her voice was barely above a murmur.

"_What_?" Ino asked, wondering if she had heard correctly. "What did you say?"

"She's not in the hospital…" Karin's voice grew louder with each sentence she spoke. "She's not in the hospital…" The panic in her tone was instantly recognizable. "She's not in the hospital!"

"_What_?" Ino's eyes shifted, trying to think of reasons why this would be. "Are you _sure_? Maybe Tsunade had her moved into another room… Or maybe you've mistaken… She . . . she _has_ to be in the hospital! Where else would she _be_?"

"She's not there… I'm sure of it."

"_WHAT_?" All pretenses were dropped, Ino's voice rising into uncomfortable decibels as the fact sank in. The bouquet of flowers she had been working on was forgotten as she ran out of the store.

"Where are you going?" Karin asked as Ino's figure became smaller and smaller with distance.

"To the Hokage! You just go and find Sakura!"

But even if Ino hadn't asked, Karin had already been on the job. She too was worried about the pinkette. Her chakra spiked once more. This time, it was a greater surge since her jutsu needed to cover more area. It took a while—Sakura's chakra was much more ordinary than that of her teammates', the only distinguishing trait being a softness similar to that of the girl's namesake—but she soon found the familiar chakra she was looking for. However, just when she was to go, an ANBU appeared in front of her.

"The Hokage has given you a mission."

"What?" the redhead asked, eyeing the backpack the shinobi held out.

"You are to assist Haruno Sakura to the Land of Lightning."

The girl's eyes, if possible, grew in size. Just what was going on? What was Tsunade playing at? And just why was Sakura going _there_ of all places?

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Naruto sulked, not because his rival had just beaten him even with the chakra restraints on but because of Sakura's condition. He was worried—that was probably the most commonly known understatement of the week. (Most of the villagers had already realized this when Naruto had screamed in the middle of Konoha demanding Tsunade to let him in the hospital.) He hadn't even been able to go into Ichiraku's without missing the girl's company. He wondered if this was karma's doing. He had finally brought back his rouge ninja of a teammate and defeated the evil Uchiha Madara just only to have his other teammate fall horribly ill. _Yep_… Karma must hate him, and the world must have been out to get him.

"Hey, Dickless, you alive?"

A veined popped, and a scowl appeared on Naruto's face. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."

"_Oh_? Like you're pretending that the Traitor didn't beat you?"

Sasuke suddenly decided Sai wasn't all that bad after all.

"Sai… I'm trying to be nice since Sakura isn't here," Naruto said through gritted teeth. He knew very well that since she wasn't there then a fight between him and Sai would never end, and he didn't want to waste any time or energy on that. He was grateful when the training grounds became quiet, but his gratefulness vanished once the stillness became a bit awkward. _Damn Kakashi-sensei for leaving me alone with these two… It's so boring without Sakura-chan…_

"Hey, it's Cinnamon."

Naruto sat up once he heard Sai using the Hyuga Heiress's nickname. The girl was coming in fast, and he wondered why she looked so frantic. "What . . . what's the matter, Hinata-chan?" he asked, his eyes blinking to make sure he wasn't imagining the tears in her eyes. Whoever made her cry would pay…

"Na-Naruto-kun…" she said, her hands on her knees as she regained her breath. "Sakura-chan . . ."

All three boy's attention—yes, even Sasuke's, though he was terribly discreet about it—were on the Hyuga now.

"What about Sakura, Hinata-chan?"

The girl shook her head. "She's not in the hospital."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

Sai and Sasuke almost flinched at Naruto's shrieking scream.

"Are you _sure_?" Sai asked in place of the blonde so that his ears needn't go deaf.

Hinata nodded her head. "I heard it from . . . from Ino who had Karin . . . check on Sakura with her sensor jutsu. Ino . . . was on her way to . . . to the Hokage mansion. She looked . . . very worried and asked me to look for you guys . . . and to tell you to meet her there."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Naruto asked, grabbing Hinata's wrist. "Let's go!" And all that was left of the two was a trail of dust. If it were possible, Naruto seemed to have gained Lee's speed.

Sasuke could only snort at the dobe's idiocy. Some things would _never_ change.

"_Well_?"

He turned to Sai who had on a snide smile. If he hadn't gotten used to Orochimaru's grins, he would have found Sai's fake smile a bit creepy.

"Aren't you going too, Traitor?"

"Why should I?" the Uchiha countered. "I cut off my bonds with her when I tried to kill her. There's no need for me to concern myself with her."

"Funny. You were singing a different tune when she fainted three days ago."

Sasuke froze, his eyes calling the ANBU root's bluff.

"It was only for a split second, yes," Sai stated, his smile never wavering. "But I saw it. You were genuinely _worried_ about her."

_That was a mistake…_ But rather than argue, Sasuke just stuffed his hands into his pocket, walking in the direction Naruto had run off into. "Let's just go…"

Sai just watched as the boy strolled along. _It would seem as though Naruto isn't the only idiot around here…_

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

By the time Sai and Sasuke reached Tsunade's office, screeches and screams could be heard from down the hall. Sasuke could easily pick out the combatants of the argument: the Yamanaka girl, the dobe, and the Hokage herself. (The Hyuga girl was probably there but, being as quiet as she was, she probably didn't have the nerve to speak up to the Slug Sannin.) The two boys immediately regretted opening the door, the severity of the volume of voices increasing by tenfold once the only barrier holding it inside the office had finally gave way.

"HOW COULD YOU? SAKURA JUST—"

"WHY DID YOU _DO_ THAT? SHE'S SICK! SHE CAN'T—"

"UZUMAKI, YAMANAKA, BE QUIET, AND LISTEN! I—"

Sasuke only shook his head as the three continued to duke it out. His eyes drifted around the room to see that the Hyuga was there and so were Kakashi and Yamato. Kakashi had his book out, and Yamato seemed to have given up on trying to calm down the three partakers of the quarrel. And looking closely at the two ex-ANBU, Sasuke noticed that they were wearing barely noticeable earmuffs. Lucky bastards…

As verbal insults began to escalate, everyone's attention was on quarrelling trio. The fight didn't seem to be ending anytime soon, and so the Uchiha wondered if he should have just walked away instead of wasting his time.

"WHAT KIND OF HOKAGE ARE YOU? SHE _JUST_ WOKE UP FROM HER _COMA_! HOW COULD YOU—"

"DON'T YOU _CARE_ ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HER? SHE'S YOUR _APPRENTICE_! IF SHE—"

"JUST SHUT UP! CAN'T YOU TWO SEE THAT—"

"OH, WOULD ALL OF YOU JUST _SHUT UP_?" And the room did become quiet as everyone just stared at the Hyuga who had just done what most people thought was impossible for her. She must have grown a backbone during the war… "WE'RE _ALL_ WORRIED ABOUT SAKURA-CHAN! THAT'S WHY WE'RE ALL HERE! BUT IT WON'T DO ANY GOOD IF WE'RE ALL FIGHTING EACH OTHER!" Her face had turned almost blood-red by her second sentence. "SO STOP YELLING AT EACH OTHER AND TALK IT OUT LIKE THE CIVIL PEOPLE YOU ARE!"

Needless to say, the mood in the room completely turned around. Tsunade, Ino, and Naruto all now were seated in chairs—Tsunade being seated at her desk while the other two in chairs in front of said desk. Kakashi and Yamato had taken off their earmuffs, they too surprised at the Hyuga's outburst. The Uchiha glanced at his replacement who still had on that weird smile of his but, at the corners of that smile, Sasuke could see Sai was having a hard time maintaining it as it kept turning into a frown. His attention was brought back to the threesome who had just argued, wondering when they'd explode again.

"Good, now that I have the chance to explain—"

"Hell, yeah, you have_ a lot_ to explain!" Naruto was already back to having his voice raised. Sasuke wondered if the Hyuga would yell at her crush, but this possibility seemed unlikely as Tsunade continued speaking as if she hadn't been interrupted.

"I gave Sakura a mission—"

"How could you _do_ that?" Now it was Ino who voiced her opinion in a tone just below that of a scream. She was struggling to keep her voice at just that volume. "She just woke up! How could you—"

"—because she asked for it."

Suddenly, the room fell silent again. Naruto and Ino's eyes were wide, the latter shaking her head as if in disbelief and muttering a series of "No, she wouldn't." They both seemed to have been waiting for the Sannin to take back what she said and for her to say that she was joking. However, this didn't happen, and Tsunade just folded her hands, waiting for the shrieks that were sure to come.

"_Why_?" It was Sai who broke the tension, his smile finally gone. "Why would she request a mission when she knows she's not up for it?"

Tsunade took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. Was she shrugging? In that small gesture, the Hokage seemed to have aged a few decades. "She said she wanted a break," she explained, recalling those very frenetic words, her right hand rubbing her aching forehead. "Wanted to get out, wanted time off… She said she had had _enough_, that she couldn't deal with all of this anymore."

"All of this?" Yamato asked, confusion written on his usual stoic face. "What do you mean by that?"

Another shrug. "You'll have to ask her that when she comes back."

"And when will she?" Naruto asked. His strained words signaled to everyone that he was trying to keep his anger under control.

Tsunade glanced at the boy, now standing in front of her. There was a sort of regret, a sorrow of some sorts, in her golden eyes. "I don't know," she finally gave him the cruel truth. "It could be just a few days, maybe a few weeks, a few months perhaps… Or it could be a year."

The explosion happened then. "_WHAT_?" Naruto and Ino both looked ready to maul something.

"Exactly what mission did you send her _on_, Lady Hokage?" Kakashi was composed, but the severe expression he had on gave everyone the sense that he wasn't showing his true emotions. The war had just finished, but he knew that the possibility of bitter enemies still lurking around was very high. If Sakura were to meet up with one of them…

"An easy one," Tsunade answered, taking the paper regarding the mission details off her desk and handing it to Kakashi who came to take it. "Diplomacy to the Land of Lightning. We should expect their envoy within a week's time. Kakashi, you will be dealing with them."

"The Land of Lightning?" Hinata asked, her eyes shifting as she calculated the distance between Konoha and that of the shinobi village within neighboring land. "But . . . but that's so far away! Is Sakura-san even up to the trip? What if she—"

"I've taken care of that detail," the Hokage answered, almost as if offended that someone would think she wouldn't have given her dearest apprentice some back up and some protection. "I've sent Karin along with her."

"_Karin_?" Ino asked, her cerulean orbs wide. "But she was—"

"The messenger I sent probably met up with her just after you left your flower shop," Tsunade explained. "He was delayed because I had him pack Karin's things along with other materials I deemed might be useful on the journey there."

"But Sakura's jutsu—"

"I made her swear that she would keep her Inner inside her mind," Tsunade said, this sentence confusing Naruto and Sasuke. "Besides, it will be a while again before her chakra is fully replenished. She shouldn't be able to use that jutsu again until two week's time."

". . . But why _her_?" Ino seemed to be looking for ways to start a dispute. "Why _Karin_?" Was that a hint of jealousy in the Yamanaka's voice? "Why didn't you ask for Hinata, Tenten, or me? Why did you choose—"

"Because Karin is a sensor nin. If anything were to happen, she would be able to guide Sakura safely away from any enemies or around them without risking a fight. Give me some credit. Sakura has just woken from her coma of three days. That, I know. Sakura will not be up to par with her chakra or jutsu. She will need time to recover. It would be best if Karin is the one to go with her."

Ino sat back down in her seat, her eyes rolled to the floor and her arms crossed. It was clear to everyone in the room that she didn't like the team arrangement and that she resented the Hokage's decision, but she didn't take this chance to argue. No, instead, she looked hideously tired. Maybe a bit relieved too. When she stood from her seat again and looked to the door, everyone just watched as she dragged her feet.

"Yamanaka," Tsunade warned. "If you take even a _step_ out of the village or even _try_ to stop Sakura, I'll have you stripped of your shinobi status."

The girl turned back at the Hokage then, glaring at her and giving a wry laugh. "You don't have to worry," she snapped, the spiteful laughter gone. "Even if I wanted to go, I'd still have to catch up on my sleep first." And with that, the door slammed close, Ino hopefully walking back home.

A sigh came from the village leader. Tsunade seemed much more tired than Ino was. "Now that _that's_ over," she started, looking at Sasuke now. "I have a question for you, Uchiha. It's pointless to ask, but I _have_ to know: how did Sakura react when she found out about your reason of betrayal?"

It took a while, but Sasuke and the others finally realized that she spoke of the Uchiha massacre. The mood changed drastically once more, no one daring to say a word.

Tsunade leaned back in her seat, inhaling deeply once more. "Just from your expressions, I can guess what happened." A loud exhale of breath came from her as she closed her eyes, thoughts running through her head. "As of now, Team Kakashi…" Her eyes opened then. "With Sakura gone, Sasuke will take her place to ensure that you have the required number of people in your team. However, because of his status as criminal, I will postpone giving you missions until I am _sure_ your teamwork is as good as can be. Is that understood?"

No one answered, but Tsunade knew they comprehended whatever she had told them. They had no other choice but to agree with her. They were short one teammate now, and there was no other candidate. They had to go along with it.

"Oh, also, Sasuke," she spoke again. "With my apprentice safely out of the way, Shizune and I will do some more digging around. You don't have to worry. I will see to it that your clan does get justice _legally_. Just remember, you're not alone in this anymore. You have people who support you. Don't take the entire burden upon yourself. Allow others to help you. Don't make the same mistake you made when you went to Orochimaru, okay?"

Sasuke didn't say anything, just mulling over the woman's words. Could he trust them? Could he hand over his clan's honor to these people? He didn't know, and yet he couldn't help but give a firm nod to the Hokage. It would be easier having her on his side after all… He ignored the small voice in the back of his head that told him it would be a good thing not having to betray his teammates any longer.

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><p><strong>Okay! This chapter is done! Thank you for reading it! Oh, and yes, I <em>know<em> Sakura seems horribly weak in this story, but the next chapter will show how strong she is. However, I shall keep her jutsu a secret until I deem it okay to reveal it to you guys. So please, REVIEW!**


	5. Part One, Interlude: Annoying Thoughts

Returning to Konoha hadn't been a decision of his. No, Sasuke had not _wanted_ to—had not even _thought_ of—ever returning to the place he grew up in. Not _home_, not anymore, because _they_ were the ones responsible for his family's deaths and Itachi being the bad guy. _They_—which _had_ meant all of Konoha but was now reduced to, thanks to Naruto, just those two Elders—were the reason and the cause of all his pain and why his life was so screwed up. It was because of _them_ that he lost _everything_.

And he was tired—worn-out, drained, _and_ exhausted. He had fought all his life, to survive and to protect, but he still had to fight. He had hated people all his life, wasted so much energy in doing so, but he hated the Elders the most and still needed to hate. He had gotten stronger all his life, trained from sunrise to sunset, but this was one battle he still could not win—at least, not by himself—a fact that he _also_ hated.

What did he want? What did he _need_? Revenge? No. Those quests of revenge had been enough to last a lifetime of scarring. But if not revenge then _what_? What. Did. He. _Want_?

He had fought alongside Naruto in the war, in that final battle against Madara. It was definitely not for any kind of salvation, definitely not for Konoha, and definitely not because the dobe had finally gotten to him. No. He had just wanted the man to pay, to pay for lying to him and manipulating him. He had not wanted revenge, though he was _itching_ to have it. He had helped Konoha unwillingly. There was no other way if he were to get rid of Madara. But he certainly had not planned on returning back to Konoha. And apparently . . . the possibility hadn't sat well with Sakura either.

The girl—young lady now—had not taken the news of his return well. That was most definitely an understatment and a big one, too. With her attempted suicide, he could picture how her face had paled to a sick shade of almost white when she had heard the news. He almost—yes, _almost_ because he was an Uchiha and he was Sasuke, after all—laughed at how ironic that was. Just only a few _years_ ago (and even a few _months_ ago), Sakura had practically screamed for him to take her _with_ him. She had wanted to help him. She had _loved_ him. She had been ready to leave Konoha _for him_, to be _with_ him, and yet . . . she jumped at—even _begged_ for—the chance to leave once he had returned. But it wasn't like that bothered him or anything. No. He wouldn't try to _understand_ how her mind worked. He wouldn't even try to _question_ her love for him because that had been in the past. She _had loved_ him. _Had_. Now . . . even she wasn't sure because, unlike Naruto, she saw him for what he _really_ was—a monster with hands tainted with blood.

But it didn't matter to him what she thought of him. He had been right. Returning to Konoha hadn't been a very good choice. It wasn't the "home" he remembered, despite whatever the dobe told him. And he certainly did _not_ want redemption or any kind of acceptance. Especially not _hers_…

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><p><strong>Yes, I am not dead. I was just busy with school. I had not planned to do an interlude. I have half the next chapter typed up already, but that had taken me a whole <em>month<em> and maybe even half _another_ month to do. I didn't want you guys wanting another month and a half for the chapter, and so here's the interlude. I am sorry, you guys. School work has piled up, and I could not find the time for fanfic. Sorry. I will try to update soon. But until then . . . I don't know. I'll try to update other fanfics too, but we'll have to see how busy I am.**


	6. Part One, Chapter Four: The Mission

Sakura stared at the fire, hugging her knees. The flames always intrigued her, so much in fact that it was a habit for her to just stare at the campfire she made every time a mission required for her to camp out. Despite knowing its destructive nature, the rosette always found fire calming and smoothing especially when she was in such inner turmoil on days like these… It was hard for her to sleep now. She blamed it on her coma, though she knew better, but she didn't want to admit such a weakness, not even to herself. No, she could not afford to be weak. She could not, especially not when she had trained so hard to be strong. It just wouldn't be fair to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" This may have been Karin's ninth or tenth attempt to start a conversation with the rosette, but it was the first time she had even gone _near_ Sakura's state of mind and whatever was bothering her. The other times, she had only tried to talk about the weather or the scenery. It was dangerous territory that redhead was entering into, but she owed Sakura for saving her life that one time. Trying to help her even though the pinkette didn't want it was the _least_ she could do, right?

The rosette did not answer. In fact, she gave no indication that she even _heard_ Karin's question. Her usually spring green eyes, dulled by her stress to a dark emerald, shifted towards the ex-Hebi member's direction. They narrowed a bit before returning to gaze once again at the fire. Even the fire seemed to be intimidated by her gaze as it put itself out until it was small enough to fit below the branches it was burning.

"Sakura…"

She stood from her seat then. "I don't want to talk," she snapped. Well, at least, she _spoke_. Throughout the whole trip, Sakura had stayed as quiet as her ex-teammate. It was unnerving. She hadn't even _acknowledged_ the redhead until they decided to rest for the night.

Why did Karin have the feeling that it would be a _long_ night?

"And there's nothing to talk about." Her pink locks flew about her as she spun around and walked towards her tent. She didn't understand why it had to be _Karin_ to accompany her on this mission. Hinata could have always scouted the area with her Byakugan. Sakura didn't understand her shisou's decision at all. She had kept quiet and had hid her discomfort when Karin had met up with her at the village gates, only out of respect for the Hokage, but it was getting harder and harder for her not to take her anger out on the sensor nin especially since she was probing in places she shouldn't have been.

"You _can't_ keep running away from _everything_!" Karin, too, rose to her feet. Her arms rested on her hips. "Sooner or later, you're going to _have_ to face your problems!"

But the Hokage's apprentice just scoffed at her words, stopping at the entrance of her tent and turning to sneer at the redhead. "Yeah, I know that… But I've still a long way to go before I'm ready, and that's not coming any time soon." And with that, she disappeared into her makeshift shelter.

Karin groaned, falling back onto the ground and burying her head in her hands. Nothing was worth this much trouble. She didn't know how to _deal_ with Sakura, let alone _know_ her as well as her friends did. Though she had been staying with the rosette since the start of the war, she didn't know Sakura _that_ well. How was _she_ the perfect candidate for this mission anyway? There was barely anything she could do! She began to regret accepting Tsunade's request in the first place and wished the Hokage had chosen Ino instead of her. At least, Ino could get Sakura to look at her with_out_ a glare. Karin had the feeling that this was probably going to be her most dangerous assignment yet, possibly even deadlier than those Orochimaru had tasked her with.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"I-Ino-chan, pl-please… Y-you need to r-rest… I c-can take care of the hospital shifts…" But like all of Hinata's efforts, this one too did not work. Ino had been working herself silly with doubling her shifts at the flower shop and the shifts at the hospital. Sakura had been the top nurse and took care of many of the cases but, with her gone, that left her spot totally vacant. However, her cases still needed to be overseen, and Hinata had offered to take over them, but Ino had insisted _she_ do it. For whatever reason, the Hyuga heiress didn't know—and to be blunt, she didn't really _care_ at the moment. Right now, the important thing was to get the Yamanaka to bed before she overworked herself to death. When _was_ the last time she had a decent amount of sleep?

"I'm fine, Hinata." The blonde hadn't meant to snap. She apologized afterwards, still sorting out some paperwork. "I can take care of this… It's really nothing."

"Nothing until _when_?" Hinata challenged, the stutter in her voice gone as an urge to argue built up within her. Her tone of voice may have showed no sign of fury, but her rage wasn't misplaced in her eyes. It was clear that she was furious with her friend's actions. "Sakura's mission may not even be _over_ in a couple of days, let alone would she come home that soon. You heard what Lady Tsunade said. Sakura may not even be back for _months_, maybe not even for a _year_! Will you still be saying the same thing in a week or so?" She knew very well the level of stamina all her friends possessed, and Ino did not rank very high on that list. "Ino, you'll _swamp_ yourself with the workload! You might even end up _worse_ than Sakura!"

Ino didn't meet her gaze. "I know that, Hinata, but—"

"But _what_?" The Hyuga couldn't understand why all of her girl friends were so _stubborn_! She felt as though she were scolding her own child! Maybe even a toddler! "Do you _want_ everyone to worry about you like we are now about Sakura?"

"No, I don't…" By now, Ino had dropped the paperwork onto the desk.

"Then . . . then why do you _insist_ on taking this whole _burden_ upon yourself? You're not _the only one_ who cares about Sakura! You're not the only one who wants her better!"

"I know, Hinata…"

"Then _why_ are you doing this?" She was so just so frustrated with Ino's lack of reaction. The blonde would have been yelling back by now. "Sakura wouldn't _want_ to see you like this. Nobody wants you to do _any_ of this, so why are you—"

"Because _I_ always _took care of her_! _I_ always _looked after her_!_ I_ was always _there for her_!" Ino's outburst almost scared Hinata out of her skin. All of the sudden, Ino's eyes and face showed the emotions of sadness, anger, regret, and fear. If Ino had not been a kunoichi and trained to be psychologically strong, she might have fainted from the excess of emotions flashing through her.

"Hey, what's going on?" Naruto had rushed into the room, having being in the adjacent one for a check-up. He had jumped when he heard Ino yell out.

But she didn't seem to notice his entrance, continuing with her self-pitying rant. "All those times . . . I could always do _so much_ for her…" She threw her face, wet with tears, into her hands and continued crying. "I could _always_ help her… _Always_… There was _nothing_ that I _couldn't_ help her with… When she was being bullied… When she was fighting off those Oto nin in the Forest of Death… When Sasuke left… When she was all _alone_… When training seemed so hard… When we failed at _every_ mission to get Sasuke back… When the war broke out… When she was almost _killed_… When she thought that _both_ of her teammates were going to die… There was _nothing_ that could have stopped me from being there _for_ her… Nothing… But now… I don't know… I couldn't even stop her from leaving… I didn't even realize…" Her voice broke, trailing off as her sobs trembled her whole body. She was hiccupping too.

"Ino… Pl-please…" Hinata could not help but feel sorry for her. She regretted getting so angry at Ino now. "Stop crying… _Please_—"

"HOW CAN I _STOP_?" Ino's voice roared, her face rising from the palm of her hands. She seemed angrier than anything now and before. "It's probably all _my_ fault she decided to leave!" Her voice grew softer and softer once this awareness was out. "She must have felt so isolated, so depressed… She must have felt as though she was driven into a corner with no way out… She must have felt like she had no one to go to… She must have felt lonely… So terribly alone…"

"Ino-chan…" Hinata didn't know what to say. "You tried… We _all_ did…"

"Yes…" She began wiping her tears away on her sleeve. "I tried… We _all_ did… But it wasn't the best, was it?" She seemed to have directed this last question at Naruto. "We could have tried harder. Then maybe we _might_ have noticed something…" She let out a bitter chuckle, choking back another cry. "Maybe she wouldn't have left… It's not like her _at all_ to leave without saying goodbye… It just isn't… That just goes to show how unlike herself she was… She wasn't and still isn't thinking straight…" Her voice began to crack again at this last sentence. She took a tissue from the desk before touching the unfinished paperwork once again.

"Ino, please…" If her father had seen her begging, Hinata knew he'd blow a fuse. "I can—"

"No, _I'll_ do this." The teary-eyed girl was still adamant on going on as she was. "I'm her best friend, and yet . . . I wasn't able to be there for her these past few days, and I probably won't be there when she has a nervous breakdown this time… This is the least I can do… Besides . . . I've _always_ taken care of her. I can't just leave this here, not even with anyone else…"

Hinata sighed. She couldn't fight with Ino. Once the blonde made up her mind then that was it. There was no turning back. And so, Hinata just led Naruto out of the room. But once she shut the door, she became a victim of her own stress and cried. She didn't bother burying her head into her hands like Ino had done. She knew there was no point in hiding her tears when it was clear to anyone who passed by and saw her that she was sobbing terribly. And so, she wept, wondering if things would ever return to normal. She wanted to stop so that Naruto wouldn't see her like this, but she felt as though her heart was getting heavier and heavier. Why was it that even after the war there would never be a time of peace?

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

She was woken by a shuffling noise and, when her eyes fluttered opened and adjusted to the dark of night, she saw Sakura with her back to her and a kunai in hand. The Hokage's apprentice had opened the tent's entrance just a bit so that she could look outside, her grip on her bladed weapon tight. That was all the confirmation Karin needed. Their campground had been infiltrated. By whom, Karin was not sure yet but, by the presence of their chakra, the redhead could tell that the intruders were barely even shinobi. Probably bandits who stumbled upon two humble little tents trying to find something valuable to steal. That, or they were lost travelers stumbling upon what they believed to be help. However, with the weapon in Sakura's hand, Karin highly doubted it was the latter. There went her beauty sleep… She wondered how long it would take for her and Sakura to get away from these people and to safety.

"How many?"

Karin's eyes widened. Sakura hadn't even made an attempt to try and whisper. She had spoken at regular volume which meant…

"Hey! Did you hear that?" Karin could practically hear the bandits or whoever they were coming closer now, their footsteps heavy. The man that had spoken sounded almost drunk and gruff.

"How _many_, Karin?" Sakura didn't sound desperate. No, she almost sounded irritated or actually _infuriated_ with the fact that the redhead wasn't answering her question. If they hadn't been in the situation they were currently in, Karin might have found it funny that Sakura sounded a lot like Sasuke at the moment.

Their tent was flipped completely over their heads, leaving them in plain sight.

"Look who we have here…"

"_Three_!" A squeak escaped from Karin's lips. She had not wanted to tell Sakura the number, fearing the girl would choose to go into battle instead of avoiding combat as Tsunade had instructed. But when she felt the wind as their hiding spot was lifted from the ground, she couldn't help it when her fear got the better of her. She had never trained much into the field of offense, so she could not protect her and Sakura both. Her fear only increased when she saw one of the dirty men lick their lips at the sight of them.

"_Aw_…" Another cooed, almost hungrily. "Two little lost mice…"

"_Heh_," Sakura scoffed, putting on her combat gloves. "I'll show you _mice_…"

Karin never thought she'd see the same kind of bloodlust in Sasuke's eyes when he went up against Itachi reflected in Sakura's emerald orbs…

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"You don't have to do this, you know." Tsunade said, for possibly the hundredth time today. She lost track of how many times she had said that phrase the day before and the day before that, but she was sure that it was a very high number—maybe in the hundreds already—and that it was getting on Shizune's nerves. Her assistant's almost brusque "Yes, I know, but I want to do this" told her that she was right, but she couldn't help it. If the Elders found out about their snooping around then… She couldn't even _think_ of the possibilities. If the Elders could kill off a whole clan of people then she didn't want to know what they'd do to Shizune and her. And so, she worried. She wanted to help bring the Uchiha clan justice, she wanted to help clear Sasuke's name, and she wanted those corrupted Elders out of her council, but she didn't want to drag anyone else under if she were to get caught. Her life was of no importance because she had already chosen her successor as Hokage and because her life was nearing its golden years anyway. She wouldn't care if she were to die. She really wouldn't have as long as she had enjoyed life, and she did.

But Shizune and Sakura… They were still so _young_, and they both still had so much of their lives to look forward to. If she were to go down then the only regret she'd have would be not seeing them live out the rest of their lives, fall in love, and have a family. That was her only regret, and they were her only worry as of now.

When Sakura had requested for a mission, she had not wanted to give into the girl, but then she thought about it on a whole different level. If Sakura were gone for an extended amount of time then she could go through the private records without having to worry that the Elders would take Sakura hostage or do something even _worse_ than that to her dear apprentice—she did not want to _think_, or _ponder_, about what "even worse" would be. Yes, Tsunade had not wanted to send the girl so far away, but the further away Sakura was from Konoha as all this was unraveling, the better it was. She did not want her apprentice going down with her if she were to make a mistake and take upon the Elders' fury. Given the fact that Sasuke had been her ex-teammate and Sakura had been pushing the Elders to not put him in the bingo book those first two years, the Elders would not be so merciful when punishing her.

The same with Shizune. Tsunade did not want Dan's _niece_—her _lover's_ niece, the girl she had practically _raised_—to come to harm's way either. And she had thought of every reason she could to get the girl—well, woman now; she still remembered Shizune coming into her care as if it were yesterday and _still_ had trouble remembering that that was _years_ ago—far, far away from all of this. As far as physically possible. But all her attempts to keep Shizune safe went up in flames when the headstrong—now, where could she have possibly gotten that trait from?—tyke (_No, not _tyke_. She's all grown up now._ Tsunade corrected herself once again. _But that doesn't mean she's able to fully take care of herself…_) decided to finish all the paperwork that she had been assigned—Tsunade still couldn't _believe_ the girl could finish a whole roomful of paperwork in less than a whole _day_!

"Look, Shizune," she said, closing the file she had been going through for the last few minutes. She didn't dare look at the whole collection in the room, for files lined up against and completely covered the bookshelves. When she had signed up to help the Uchiha, she didn't think there would have been so many different folders on the clan at all. Oh, how wrong she was… "I'm only trying to look out for you. If the Elders find out that I was snooping around then it wouldn't really matter because I'm _always_ at heads with them. But if _you're_ caught—"

"Lady Tsunade, I _know_ the risks," the black-haired medic said, taking another file from Tonton and giving the little piglet the file she had just finished to put away. "But I also do know that"—she started going through the folder of paper she received—"if the Elders succeed in killing off one whole _clan_ and getting away with it then there will be nothing to stop them if they plan to do so once again. Granted that the Uchiha clan had planned to stage a coup, not _all_ of them were shinobi. I don't want to see any more innocent people dying. I don't want the Elders planning another massacre. Plus . . ." She looked Tsunade, the woman who had been almost a surrogate mother to her, in the eyes. "I don't want you going down alone. Life has not been kind to you. At the very least, if you were to die then you'll die with love and knowing that you were and still are loved. I won't let you die alone."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Tsunade was touched that Shizune cared about her so much, but she had not wanted to hear that sentence. "I don't _want_ you to die. I don't want to see that happen." Flashbacks of her brother and Dan flooded her mind, their cold and dead bodies never moving or smiling ever again. "I don't want to see anymore of my precious people die. I'm the Hokage. If I'm found doing some sort of crime, I'd get _some_ leniency, but you . . . Shizune, they'd _want_ you dead. It won't matter to them if it's done quietly or not. Your position matters nothing to them and to the whole ninja world because you are _only_ my assistant. Don't you understand? I don't want to see you be brutally _murdered_."

"Don't you worry. I won't be." Shizune reassured her, her lips curled into a small smile. "And neither will you get in trouble because . . . well, we can't leave Sakura here by herself, now can we?" She shut her eyes, closing the file in her hands, and sighed. She spoke again when her gaze met Tsunade's who looked as though she hadn't thought of the possibility that Shizune had just presented. "Sakura . . . she's important to the both of us. We both helped her, trained her, even raised her to be the kunoichi she is now… We've been with her through some of her toughest of times… And we've been with her for so many years… We're important to her, too. If we were to die then . . ."—she let out a wry scoff, thinking that the statement was ridiculous because she would not let herself or Tsunade get killed—"her world would shatter, and she'd _never_ forgive us. I don't want her to go through any more pain, especially not the kind of pain Sasuke went through when he lost his family. She's already going through a hard time. If we were to die now…" She shook her head, knowing that if she thought of the outcome then she wouldn't be able to hold back tears. "I don't want her to cry anymore. She's too pretty to have her face stained with any more tears."

And after her little dialogue, Shizune made a show that she had a whole _stack_ of files to go through, and if she didn't get through them before sunrise then she wouldn't know _when_ she could find the file with the information they needed to persecute the Elders. And as an added note and an added piece of humor, she jokingly threatened Tsunade that if she tried to get her out of the room and to "safety" then she was going to hide the old lady's sake in a place where the bottles would never be found again.

Needless to say, Tsunade stopped pestering her assistant about not helping her after that threat. However, she couldn't get rid of the gut feeling she felt whenever she hit a jackpot. Something was going to go wrong somehow. She didn't know how, but she knew it in the pit of her stomach and in the forefront of her mind that something was going to happen. She knew the Elders had their spies, and she knew it was only a matter of time before they were caught.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"I thought you weren't _allowed_ to use that jutsu," Karin accused the rosette who was tying the bandits to a tree.

"Oh, _please_…" Sakura rolled her eyes as she tightened the rope. Once she was sure the rope wouldn't loosen, she surveyed her handiwork and almost laughed. And here she thought these bandits were going to be a challenge… "Well, that should do it…" she said to herself. She dusted off her hands before returning to explaining things. "It got the job done quickly, _didn't_ it? And you didn't even have to move a _muscle_! So what are you _complaining_ for?" She sneered at the last question. She really couldn't understand why Karin was making such a fuss. Really, there was no bandit problem now, was there?

"I'm not complaining, Sakura." The redhead was getting frustrated. Why was Sakura acting like a child? Didn't she know the consequences of her actions? "I'm just stating facts…" She tried to keep her tone as neutral as possible, trying to keep her anger out of her voice. "If Tsunade didn't want you to use that jutsu then you shouldn't," Karin tried to reason with her. "Plus, you still need Ino's help in perfecting it, don't you?"

"Ha!" Sakura threw her head back. She didn't laugh. She only let that huff of air out just to spite whoever thought what Karin did. "_Perfect it_?" she asked. Karin almost backed away from the girl who was starting to sound like a raving maniac. "There's no _need_ to! The jutsu works just _fine_! And my Inner hasn't bothered me_ at all_, not even when I _do_ let her out!"

"But Sakura…"

"Oh, _fine_…" the cherry blossom retorted, huffing a bit and crossing her arms, refusing to meet Karin's eyes. "If it'll make you feel better, I _promise_ not to use that jutsu _unless_ it's a _complete_ emergency. _Okay_?" She actually turned back to look at Karin at her last word, her eyes wide and her lips pouting out as if she were a child begging for forgiveness.

The ex-Team Hebi member could only blink her eyes in disbelief. She really couldn't believe it was that _easy_ to persuade Sakura into such a promise. There had to be a catch. There just had to be. But she sighed and nodded her head, unable to resist the silly face Sakura wore.

"_Good_!" The Konoha medic smiled, clapping her hands together. "So now that _that's_ over with, let's get going then. After that little fiasco, I'm not that sleepy anymore."

And they both took off into the trees again, for Karin was also wide awake now. And even if she wasn't, the redhead would have forced herself awake. She needed to keep a closer eye on Sakura from now on. The Haruno had just been mad, sad, and glad in the last few minutes. The emotional unbalance was becoming a red-light, and Karin wanted to make sure of something before confirming her suspicions.

However, as they moved through the forest, both wary of the other, they didn't notice that a silver-scaled snake had been watching their every move.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, this chapter's <em>done<em>! I'm sorry if it's short. I am not getting enough time to work on my fanfics, but I really wanted to add the chapter in so that you guys don't have to wait any longer for this chapter. I worked on a lot of the description parts more, so I'm sorry for those who like dialogue better. I really am trying to work on my writing techniques. Next chapter will be the turning point of everything in this first part of the story. I am trying to make three parts to this fanfic, and hopefully you guys won't get tired of waiting for me to update. Sorry again.**

**Also, the chapter title "The Mission" does not just mean Sakura's mission but Tsunade's mission to try and keep her two girls safe and her mission to help Sasuke get his clan justice. The title can also mean Ino's little mission about always being there for Sakura. Just a note so you guys know.**


	7. Part One, Chapter Five: A New Threat

As the two continued to move through the trees, Karin had stayed true to her words and kept a sharp eye on Sakura. It was a bit hard to continuously watch the girl in front of her and watch her footing, but Karin somehow managed it, though she did trip every now and then. It was a hard job, yes, but to say that Karin was worried was an understatement. Her focus on the girl had been so acute that she had forgotten to check their surroundings for any unwanted visitors. It was careless and thoughtless move, a _huge_ mistake on her part. And so when Sakura abruptly stopped, Karin could not hold in her surprise.

"Wh-what is it?" the redhead asked, watching the girl in front of her. Why did Sakura look so threatening all of the sudden? She jumped out of the way when Sakura pulled out a kunai and threw it in her direction. _"Kyaa!"_ Fortunately, for Karin, the kunai zoomed past her, missing her by just a bare centimeter. _"Hora,_ why did you do—"

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Sakura screamed, her eyes gazing to something beyond where her ally stood, her demand echoing through the forest so loudly that nearby birds flew out of their nests at the disruption. Even Karin herself was frightened by the petite girl's loud command.

"Wha…" Karin didn't understand what was going on until she returned her attention to chakra-sensing and felt the sinister chakra stalking them. Once she saw how big of a mistake she had committed, she felt so ashamed at herself. How could she have been so absentminded? Not only that, but how could she even _think_ that Sakura would just turn on her like that? She wanted to hit herself for even having such a thought now that she realized her own carelessness. She could have put them both in terrible danger just by ignoring whoever was coming towards them.

She gasped when she recognized the dark chakra, instantly fearing for both hers and Sakura's safety. "This chakra…" she quivered, realizing right there and then just how much trouble they both were in.

"Heh-heh-heh…"

"_Show yourself_!" Sakura repeated, this time more heatedly, a bit unnerved by Karin's sudden concern. Just who could this person be to have shaken the sensor nin so much? Yes, that dark laughter sounded familiar, but it just couldn't be _that_ person, could it? No, she had to have been mistaken. She had to be. She knew Sasuke had killed him, so she had to be hallucinating from lack of sleep, right?

But the evil chuckle continued, sending shivers up both girls' spines. "You two don't even realize how dangerous your situation is…"

It was Sakura's turn to gasp. "That voice…" She came to the same conclusion as Karin had. She couldn't believe it. It wasn't who she thought it was. In fact, she had even forgotten about his assistant. That, she feared, might have been her biggest slip-up yet.

"It's too bad, actually… Too bad that I have to hurt _you two_ when it's much _bigger_ fish I'm after…"

"Karin, _RUN_!" Sakura yelled amidst the villain's laughter. She grabbed the redhead's arm and pulled her along, and they both raced away from their foe. This was one battle they both knew they couldn't win.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

_"Itadakimasu!"_

Sasuke just snorted as he and Sai watched Naruto as the jinchūriki swallowed down bowl after bowl of ramen. The ex-rouge nin scowled. He didn't understand _why_ Naruto dragged him to the restaurant. He hadn't even been hungry, and Naruto didn't even _ask._ The ex-criminal had been training—and trying to hit Sai as many times as he could during the session—when Naruto had just come rushing to them and pulling them along with him to Ichiraku's (which Sasuke could _not believe_ was one of the only buildings in Konoha that survived the war). Naruto, though seemingly happy now, had looked a tad uncomfortable and depressed when he had appeared out of nowhere. The boy's face was scrunched up, and his muscles had been tense. And if Sasuke remembered correctly, Naruto had mentioned his annual checkup was just the day before. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed, somewhat hoping that a mere doctor's visit wasn't what had his ex-teammate down in the dumps.

"You know, Dickless," Sai started, after finishing his meal with a slight discomfort in his jaw, courtesy of a punch Sasuke had managed to land before Naruto had dragged them with him. "If Ugly were here, she'd tell you to slow down or you'd choke on your ramen."

Sasuke watched as Naruto's hand tightened around his chopsticks. In his mind, there were only two ways this would go down now: one, Naruto was going to yell at the painter for calling him Dickless or, two, Naruto would just get even more upset with each mention of the medical nin. Sasuke waited for the result, wishing it to be the former.

The blonde heaved a sigh, actually leaving his ramen untouched for once. He was really down, and Sasuke realized his hopes of leaving while Sai and Naruto fought would probably be dashed.

"Guys, yesterday at the hospital—"

Sasuke's hands rolled into fists. He was going to _chidori_ Naruto in the face if the hospital was the only reason why he was so upset.

"—I realized how important Sakura was… Not _just_ to our team but…" He couldn't continue, his eyes downcast as he recalled the memory.

"You're talking about the kunoichi, aren't you?"

Naruto and Sasuke just stared at Sai, their eyes wide—though in Sasuke's case, his eyes only widened just by a _tiny_ little bit. How did _Sai_ who had so many problems with social life—problems that anyone could see—realize exactly who Naruto was talking about? It was just so . . . _whoa_! If Naruto hadn't been so down, he would have said something along the lines of, "_Wow_! Sai, I think you just graduated Social Life Studies!"

"Hinata had asked me to check up on Ino this morning," Sai answered the two's unasked question. For once, he didn't have a fake smile on his face nor did he use any of his horrid nicknames. The lack of his usual cynical facial expression and pet names showed how serious he was being. "And right now, Shikamaru should be with her. Then, Tenten's going to have either Neji or Choji help her in the evening." He remembered Hinata's instructions cearly and what she had wanted him to do. The other girls and she had been _extremely_ worried about Ino, but the Yamanaka would not let them visit her because she didn't want to hear their lectures or their apprehension. And so, the girls were forced to resort to other measures of checking up on their friend. Sai wondered how Ino would take it if she found out about this plan.

"Ino has been handling Sakura's job . . . pretty _well…"_ His voice was a bit tense and, from that, the other two knew that Sai didn't like the fact that Ino was overworking herself. "But I don't really know how long that will last. Ino doesn't have _that_ good of an endurance like Sakura does… I mean, she _was_ pretty shaken up today…"

Naruto sighed again, the consequences of the void Sakura had made finally setting in. It wasn't _just_ going to be Team 7 or Team Yamato, he realized now, who were going to miss the cherry blossom but their whole age group and anybody who had anything to do with the hospital. Though Sakura had not been a powerful asset to Konoha, she had been one of its most valuable—one of its top medics and one of its most well-connected of shinobi. But now that she was gone, those who knew her—And that was a whole _bunch_ of people!—were going to feel the full impact of the Sakura's departure. Naruto knew he couldn't afford to be selfish now. He had known he wouldn't be the only one who would miss his female teammate, but it had only just recently sink in just how important Sakura was to everyone else. And with that, Naruto just couldn't _not_ feel the missing link that had been left with his teammate's departure.

"I think she really blames herself for Sakura's departure," Sai continued, speaking of Ino. Again, when he spoke, he seemed uptight. "She was the closest to Sakura out of all of us, after all."

_Oh, yeah…_ Naruto thought, remembering just now that Sakura _did_ have friends _outside_ of Team 7 and Team Yamato. _Ino was her childhood friend…_

"But she didn't see what Sakura was thinking, what she was doing, and what she was becoming… Ino really is taking everything really . . . really _badly…_ I'm surprised she hasn't left the village yet to go help her best friend, but then again she doesn't want to upset Lady Tsunade anymore either."

And again, Naruto sighed, this time because of the mention of the Hokage. He really regretted yelling at Tsunade the other day. He shouldn't have accused her of not caring for her apprentice. He should've known that Tsunade was only trying to protect Sakura, from both the Elders and her own undoing. Tsunade had been Sakura's teacher, and she had come to see Sakura as almost her own _daughter._ With her experience, Tsunade would have noticed the telltale signs that _none_ of Sakura's friends would have. Out of everyone, Tsunade must have been the most frightened by Sakura's change in demeanor. And for her to have given in to Sakura's request of a mission right when she had _just recovered,_ it must have been hard for the old lady to choose: whether or not to put Sakura's life in danger over whether or not to have let the girl suffer in silence because of her stress. It must have been tough to decide… Naruto knew that Tsunade was strong, but he knew that, when it came to the people she loved, Tsunade was soft and she hurt whenever one of her beloved was hurt. He wondered just how badly the Hokage was taking all of this. He could only imagine Tsunade's inner turmoil of wondering whether or not she had made the right decision.

"How is Granny Tsunade taking all of this anyway?" he asked. He didn't want to ask, in fear of the answer, but he did out of respect for the elderly woman and because he was worried about her too. "I mean, with all that's happening…"

It was then that Sai's fake smile returned. "She wants to drink." Perhaps he was trying to make a joke. Well, at least, he was _trying_ to lift the mood. "But she doesn't because she has her own mission," he added when no one laughed. He spoke of getting dirt on the Elders with such an importance that it was hard to tell if he was putting blame on it or not. "She doesn't know when Sakura will be back, but she doesn't want to risk getting Sakura in danger like she's risking Shizune's life right now."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, trying to understand what his replacement was getting at. Exactly _how_ would _Sakura and Shizune_ get into trouble for what _Tsunade_ was doing?

This gesture didn't go unnoticed by the painter. "It's dangerous for them both because they both are so connected to Tsunade that the Elders, if they find out, will punish Shizune and Sakura too as a way to get back at her. It's a gamble she's unwilling to take,"—his voice turned into a whisper then—"but Tsunade _does_ want to get rid the Elders as badly as you do." After that phrase, Sai returned to normal volume. "And Shizune has already made her point known, so Tsunade is going through with it, but I think this fear of losing the last of her loved ones still lurks in the back of her mind. She has lost _so many_ people already—her brother, her lover—that she doesn't want to lose those two, her lover's niece and the girl she's trained, the two she's viewed as daughters. You know…"—with this last sentence, he spoke to both Sasuke and Naruto—"I don't know _how_ Lady Tsunade would take it if she lost Shizune, Sakura, or even _both_ of them."

And it was a thought neither of the two rivals wanted to think of. Tsunade, proud and strong Tsunade… How would she take it if the _last_ of her precious people were gone? It was a thought that neither of them could take.

But there was a nagging feeling in the back of Sasuke's mind—and it wasn't that annoying little voice that always bothered him this time—that told him something _bad_ was going to happen. Something really bad. And it didn't help much that he had the same gut feeling as when he was a genin and he _knew_ his female teammate was in danger.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"Is it _this_ one, Hinata?"

"Oh, what?" Hinata apologized for her lack of attention before going to examine the wild flower that Tenten pointed to. "Oh, yeah… It's this one."

"_Finally_! We've found one!" And putting the little weed into the basket, Tenten began to look for another stalk of the same herb. It was hard looking for a small almost-black stem in a meadow of tall green grass, but Konoha needed a new stock of the medicinal herb, and so Tenten strained her eyes to find it. It took a while, but she finally saw another small line of black underneath a berry bush. She ran over and pushed some of the branches out of the way, only to be met with a wonderful sight.

"Look, Hinata!" she called the Hyuga heiress over. "There's _so many_ here! We'll be done with this in no time!"

But Hinata didn't answer back, looking in the direction of northeast. She seemed distant, thinking of something other than this small mission they were given. And after a few minutes of silence, Tenten huffed dejectedly, standing back on her feet, walking over to her friend, and putting a hand on the Hyuga's shoulder. Though there were only trees where Hinata glanced at, Tenten knew _exactly_ what was on her friend's mind. After all, the Land of Lightning was northeast of Konoha.

"Hinata…" Tenten wanted to say something to her soft-spoken friend, but _what_? Even _she_ had the same thing on her mind. What was there to say when they _both_ were so worried?

"Do you think she's alright?"

The weapons mistress bit her bottom lip, unsure of how she'd reply. If she answered yes then she'd be lying. Sakura, after all, had left right after she had recovered from a _three-day coma_. The chances of the girl being alright were slim since the journey to the Lightning Country was long and treacherous. Even _if_ Karin was with her, Tenten still saw how grim the possibilities were especially since Karin only knew the most basic of healing techniques. But then again, if Tenten answered no then she'd _still_ be lying because there was always the chance of a miracle in the making—and in this case, the miracle would have been Sakura seeing the light and coming to terms with Sasuke's return.

"I don't know…" she opted to say, shaking her head. It was the best response she could think of. "But we . . . we have to faith in her. Sakura is, in spite of everything, the strongest out of our generation." And that was no lie. Physically, Sakura was the strongest. Mentally, however . . . she did rank high on that scale but, now with her Inner going amok… "We need to believe in her abilities and believe that everything will turn out a-okay."

But Hinata, still with her hands clasped almost in a praying manner, shivered slightly. She appeared to be startled by something, almost to the point of crying. Tenten had never seen the Hyuga so disturbed before.

"Hinata-chan… What's wrong?"

"I…" Hinata didn't know if she should tell her, if she should tell _anyone._ She didn't want them worrying over something so irrelevant and trivial.

"Go on," Tenten encouraged the shy heiress, taking her hands into her own. "You can tell me _anything."_

And with her eyes downcast, Hinata took a deep breath. "I . . . I had a dream last night… A b-bad one…" She was too embarrassed to look at Tenten's face, afraid her cousin's teammate might have been wearing a scrutinizing glower. And she was too humiliated to continue. She knew she shouldn't have brought it up. Tenten probably thought her to be foolish.

But on the contrary, Tenten didn't. "What was it about?" she asked.

Hinata glanced up at her friend, surprised by the soft expression on her face. She felt stupid to have thought Tenten would have laughed at her. "It . . . it was about Sakura…" she continued with a new confidence. "She . . . she was running with Karin… They looked scared… So scared… Then . . . then Karin disappeared… I think she fell or—I'm not sure, but there was blood… _A lot_ of blood…" The Hyuga's trembling became more apparent now, and a stray tear slid down her cheek. She could remember every detail of her nightmare vividly.

Tenten's grasp on her friend's hands tightened, trying to comfort her. "Go on. Talk it out. It's not good to keep such a fright inside. Talk it out."

Hinata nodded and did as she was advised. "Then Sakura… She… She was so scared, Tenten… She was afraid to be alone in this darkness. After she couldn't find Karin, she… She continued to search, but something grabbed her by the leg… I don't know what it was, but it was a hand—a white, _scaly_ hand… It looked like it belonged to a ghost… She kept throwing kunai at it, but it just kept coming back and trying to crush her ankle… And then when she used a shurinken and cut it hand off, a long pink—I think it was a tongue… A tongue shot up and grabbed her by the throat… Oh, it was _horrible_…" She took her hands back and buried her head in them, tears now freely flowing out of the Hyuga heiress's eyes. She hated how she could only have watched as her dream played out. She had felt so helpless.

"Oh, Hinata…" Tenten couldn't _bear_ to see the girl cry like that. It didn't seem right for sweet Hinata to wail so much. She was about to give her a hug when Hinata spoke again.

"And I think Ino might have had the same dream, too…" she said in between gasps for air.

"Why . . . why is that?" Tenten now feared about Ino. If Hinata was crying like this then she couldn't imagine how _Ino_ would have taken such an omen.

"Because . . . last night, she refused to . . . to go back to sleep… And then she asked me what had pale white skin and a flexible tongue… And this morning, Sai said . . . that she looked really distracted at the hospital today and . . . every time there was a call to the emergency room, she looked so scared . . . as if . . . as if she was dreading that . . . that Sakura would be the next one she'd be operating on…" Hinata looked at Tenten straight in the eyes now. "Oh, Tenten…" she cried. "What will we do if this dream comes _true_? What if…?"

But Tenten shook her head, placing both her hands on Hinata's shaking shoulders. "It won't happen…" she protested, shaking her head, but she was not only trying to convince Hinata. She too now feared such a possibility. "Sakura's strong… And Karin is a sensor nin… _Nothing_ like that would happen…"

"But Tenten…" Hinata was hiccupping now. "If it does _then_…?"

"It won't," Tenten repeated. "It won't…"

"But what—"

Suddenly, a large tail shot out from the surrounding trees and whipped the two girls off their feet. Both Tenten and Hinata landed on their arms, both having been too distracted to have noticed the ambush ahead of time. But what had them completely off-guard was that the tail was scaly and as white as snow. It didn't help calm Hinata's nerves.

"Who is it?" Tenten bellowed, taking out her short sword. She too was alarmed by the coincidence that had Hinata wondering if her nightmare was truly _just_ an omen.

But there was no answer. Only a loud hissing noise. And then a large snake slithered out from the place where it had attacked from. It stared at them with its great yellow eyes as if they were its prey. But the two girls didn't notice that as they weren't focused on the snake even when it _poof_ed away. No. They were only focused on the bloodied mess of a girl it left in its place.

"Karin!"

Both girls raced to their ally, Hinata getting on her knees and checking for a pulse. Karin's heart was barely even beating.

"She's bleeding out!" the Hyuga sobbed, quickly placing her chakra-infused hands on top of Karin's chest. "Get Lady Tsunade!"

Tenten was already on the job before Hinata could even finish her sentence.

"Don't . . . Don't worry, Karin… You'll be alright…" But Hinata really didn't know about that. Though she was trying to administer some of the healing techniques she knew, after a survey of the redhead's injuries, Hinata doubted her friend's chances of survival. Karin had large gashes on her legs, one of which looked as though it was poisoned. There also seemed to be a large slash on the girl's stomach, a few cuts on her hands and arms, and one ghastly wound on the girl's neck. Hinata almost froze and wondered about Sakura's condition. If Karin was here then where was the pink-haired kunoichi? Hinata _forced_ herself to focus on the girl in front of her. She'd ask questions later. "You'll be fine… You'll be—"

"What the Hell happened?"

Hinata almost stopped her chakra flow when she heard the voice. "Sa . . . _Sasuke-kun_?" she asked, looking up to glance at the Uchiha almost as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I saw Neji's teammate running towards the hospital," he explained, forgetting what Tenten's name was. (He never actually got around to remembering it.) When he saw the brown-haired girl fretting so much, he had assumed the worst and ran off in the direction where she had come from. He denied that he was worried (because he _so wasn't_)_._ He was just curious. _Just_ curious.

But Hinata gave him a small smile. "Arigato…" she thanked him. Even if the Uchiha couldn't see it himself, Hinata could. He had been _worried._ Worried about whom, she didn't know. But he had been worried, so she was thankful for at least that much.

"So what happened to her?" he asked, ignoring her gratitude.

"She…" But Hinata didn't know how to answer. Everything had happened so fast. The attack, the snake… How was she supposed to answer? "Tenten went to get Lady Tsunade, but I don't know the extent of her wounds," she decided to talk about that instead. "We're pretty far from the hospital and the Hokage mansion. I don't know if she—"

"Sa…" Karin opened her mouth then. "Sakura…" But she couldn't get even a sentence out before she started coughing out blood.

"No, don't talk, Karin!" Hinata advised, one of her hands now on the wound on Karin's neck. "You'll only worsen your wounds! Wait until Lady Tsunade gets—"

"I'll bring her to meet Tsunade."

Hinata thought she had heard wrong. Did Sasuke actually offer to…?

"Would she be alright if I carried her?"

Hinata, not trusting her voice at the moment, could only nod once. "She . . ." she said after a moment, "Karin _might_…"

And that was all the good-to-go Sasuke needed before he threw Karin onto his back and ran off in the direction of Konoha.

"But just be careful!" Hinata's voice was so far off now, but Sasuke could still hear the girl's warning. "Her injuries!" That second one sounded as if it were a ghostly noise, the Uchiha almost not catching it as his speed pushed twenty miles. The gates of Konoha were coming into view now.

"Don't…" Karin wheezed, again trying to speak despite Hinata's previous word of caution. "Don't worry . . . about me… Sa . . . Sakura's in . . . she's in danger…"

"_Tch_…" Sasuke almost snorted. "I already knew that from the moment I saw your condition." In fact, if anyone saw Karin now then they'd _know_ Sakura was not better off either. But Sasuke knew he couldn't think about his ex-teammate now. He had to take care of this one first. "But if you want to talk and quicken your death then be my guest."

Karin seemed to take heed of his words and quieted then as they passed the gates, receiving odd glances and looks from the civilians. Karin would have screamed at them, had she been at a hundred percent. She had always hated such tantalizing gazes. This time was no different. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew she was being placed on the ground, a strong womanly voice barking out orders.

"You're going to be alright, Karin," Tsunade said, her hands on the shallow wound slashed upon the sensor nin's neck. There were more fatal wounds, but the one on Karin's neck seemed to be _growing_ with each breath that the redhead was taking. Tsunade could not just let it as it was. At the rate the wound was bleeding out, Karin would have died from just that than her other more serious injuries. "Tenten is helping Ino get a gurney for you, and Shizune is prepping an emergency room. You're going to be alright."

Sasuke could only stare at the scene before him, not even bothered by the fact that more and more people were starting to crowd around the two women and him. He had a new respect for the Hokage now. She really _did_ love all of her citizens. The way she comforted Karin and the way she carefully but quickly tried to heal the girl's more fatal abrasions showed how focused and how determined the old woman was to _not_ let Karin die. Despite being a gambler and a drunk _most_ of the time, Tsunade was strong where she was gentle and she had strength where others would have weakness. He felt a bit better now, knowing that he had agreed to let _this woman_ oversee the operation against the Elders.

"_Oy_, Teme!"

Sasuke couldn't resist the roll of his eyes. Could Naruto get any _louder_?

"Why did you run off just—Oh, _Hell_! Why are you covered in so much _blood_?"

Rather than waste his breath, Sasuke shifted his head in Karin's direction. When he saw the state the sensor nin was in, Naruto understood right away, the blonde quickly by the girl's side.

"Don't you worry, Karin!" Konoha's hero almost hollered, grabbing the girl's hand. His kindness really stretched beyond the widest of oceans. "You'll be _fine_! Granny Tsunade will take good care of you!"

Karin's head seemed to have moved a bit in what seemed to be a nod. For some reason, though, her eyes were filled with an enormous amount of guilt.

Sasuke only watched his rival, wondering when the blonde would remember that Karin had been sent to accompany _Sakura_ on a mission. He wondered when the explosion would happen because he knew Naruto would _immediately_ worry about the pink-haired kunoichi. It was the reason why the Uchiha himself was debating on whether or not to tell Naruto what Karin had tried to tell him. He didn't want to tell Tsunade either, a small fear that the Hokage might lose her focus.

"_Uchiha_!" the Hokage barked out, one of her hands still healing the almost closed wound on Karin's neck while the other on one of the more mortal wounds on Karin's chest. She didn't wait for a reply. "I need you to get to Ino and tell her where we are! Hurry now!"

He nodded and was soon about to leave when Karin grabbed the sleeve of his shirt. He stared down at the girl who only looked at him now with eyes full of fear but not fear of him. "Ka . . ." She had a hard time speaking still, but she wasn't gurgling out blood anymore, and she was more understandable now. But why did she seem so scared? Did she think she was going to die? "Kabuto . . . _he_ did this…" she breathed, her lips trembled. Her words shocked even Tsunade. "He wants . . . he wants revenge . . ." She swallowed and took a deep breath. "Revenge against _you_ . . . and Naruto…"

Everyone who gathered to watch the scene now grew silent. The civilians were now frightened and worried. Hadn't they gotten _rid_ of Kabuto? Hadn't the danger ceased since the war? And why did Kabuto decide _now_ to strike? The shinobi there thought along the same lines. However, their one main question stood different from all those of the citizens of Konoha. Why did Kabuto choose to attack _Karin_ as revenge against Sasuke and Naruto? Everyone _knew_ that Sasuke had almost succeeded in killing the redhead, and Naruto barely even _knew_ the girl. So _why…?_ Why torture _Karin_ when she was _nothing_ to the Uchiha and the Kyuubi container?

But apparently, Karin wasn't done speaking because the next thing she said had all the shinobi there putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

"He has. . ." Karin was crying now, tears flowing down her bloodied and bruised face. "He has Sakura… He's going to _kill_ her…"

* * *

><p><strong>Arigato = thank you<strong>  
><strong>Hora = hey<strong>  
><strong>Itadakimasu = [said before eating]<strong>

**Whew! I am done with this chapter! Yippee! Sorry for the long wait! But I got it done! Bet you guys didn't see that one coming, did you? I admit, I thought I made Sasuke a bit too OOC, but it really worked out _wonderfully_! It took me three days to make this, so it's not really as good as I'd like, but I hoped you all enjoyed it!**

**I went to watch _Breaking Dawn Part 1_ today, and it was _so worth_ my money. I hated the cliff-hanger, but yep…**

**Also, who else thinks that _Naruto_ is going down the deep end? I mean, really, Tobi pick a name and just tell us who you are already! And Kishimoto, if you had a kissing scene in there between SasuSaku or NaruHina or just have Naruto acknowledge Hinata's love confession, your rating would go through the roof! Just saying…**

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and please review!**


	8. Part One, Interlude: Mind Games

She runs blindly through the darkness. She is unable to run correctly, her gait strange because one of her legs is limp thanks to a large gash on the side of her ankle. She trips because of the lack of light. Her tired legs are bruising badly and, because of this, she is tempted to just stay there and rest. When was the last time she had a good night's rest?

But she hears her pursuer coming closer, and she knows she can_not_ waste any time. Sakura knows that… She needs to find Karin and get out of this place! They both _have_ to live and warn Konoha! They have to warn _both_ Naruto and Sasuke! They have to _tell_ Tsunade! The danger is just too great!

She is back on her feet and sprinting, going as fast as she possibly can. She wishes she had asked Karin to train her more in the art of chakra sensing. At the level where she is, she can barely even detect the redhead or her enemy.

A sickly sweet but dark laughter echoes through the darkness. It seems so far away yet so close…

"Oh, come out, come out wherever you are~!"

Sakura feels her gut twist in her stomach. That is _her_ voice… Her Inner's… How _dare_ Kabuto use that to taunt her! She won't allow the man to get away with it! She won't! She won't let herself become a _weapon_ against her teammates! She just _won't_!

As she runs, the voice gets further and further away, but its presence clings to Sakura like the clothes on her back. And after what seems like hours, the exhausted kunoichi leans against a large tree, sliding down to the ground so that she can catch her breath. She can't sense anyone's presence. She is alone. And she is _safe_… Safe for now… She knows it's not for long, but she is so tired… The blood loss is making her delirious. Even if she was back in Konoha, she wouldn't even know it.

_Hm… Konoha…_ she thinks, tears welling up in her eyes. She wants to go home… She wants to be with friends… She wants to see Naruto, Ino-pig, Tsunade-shisou, Shizune, Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou, and that jerk Sai… She even admits to herself that she wants to see _Sasuke_… She just wants to be home…

_Bam!_

Someone slaps the tree, and Sakura backs away, unable to stand. Her eyes widen when she sees the enemy. She isn't safe here at all… She will never be… Her peace of mind isn't here and won't come to her…

* * *

><p><strong>Whoo! That's finished with! I never thought it'd take me <em>so long<em> to actually make something this short! I tried to make this based off of Ayumi Hamasaki's MV for _Last Angel_, but it didn't seem that way at all. Sorry for the long wait, my fanfic followers! But I've been so busy with school…**

**For those waiting for _Sakura DOROPPUSU_, I haven't come up with a solid idea for the new chapter yet, so that's why it's taking so long for that to update. I'm so sorry. And for those waiting for _Two Hearts and A Red Sin_, I'm halfway through it. I just need a bit more time.**

**Thank you for being patient with me!**


	9. Part One, Chapter Six: Setting Out

It is all quiet and silent in the Hokage's office. All of Rookie Nine along with Tenten's team and their sensei even Kurenai arethere. Shikamaru's, Hinata's, and Ino's fathers are there as well because they now served as Tsunade's secret advisors. They were all waiting—waiting for orders, waiting for more information, just waiting for _something._ It was bad enough that one of their own was taken, but it was even worse that another one of them was being targeted. In fact, it made matters plummet as it was not just _one_ but _two_ who were the intended victims. And so, as they waited, Konoha 11 wallowed in a sort of mourning. The war was over, but the danger had only just begun. Their childhood had become only fleeting memories. They have to fight to protect and survive now.

Naruto is the only one who unleashes his pent-up frustration in huffs and sighs and _How?_s and disbelief. He wants to yell and scream to the Heavens for allowing something like this to happen but, more importantly, he wants to scream for a mission. A retrieval mission. To bring her back. To _save_ her. To bring her back home. And to make sure she is safe once again. But he doesn't. He doesn't because of the ruined figure sitting at the seat of power.

Tsunade is taking the full brunt of this. She blames herself. Who else _was_ there to blame? _She_ was the one who gave in to Sakura. _She_ was the one who gave Sakura the mission. _She_ was the one who let her own apprentice out into the world when she wasn't ready for it. _She_ was the one who didn't give her dear apprentice _enough_ protection. _She_ was the one to blame and nobody else.

"How _the Hell_ did this happen?" Tenten is the first to speak up. She is tired of the stillness, and she wants _answers._ And so do her housemates.

"I _told_ you this was a bad idea!" Ino is yelling at Tsunade. She ignores the disapproving stare of her father. "Sending Sakura out like that and with only _Karin_ to protect her! That was the _worst_ idea you could _ever_ have!"

Sasuke watches as the Hokage shakes in aggravation, in helplessness, in desperation, and in decadence. Tsunade looks as though she wants to cry, but she can't because she is Hokage. If she cries then what would everyone else do? Who would they look to for guidance in a situation like this? Sasuke has never pitied anyone more than this lady because he knows that, in her position, she can't do as she wants and she can't abandon the whole world for her precious peoples.

"Lady Tsunade, if I may ask," Kakashi is speaking now. "How did Kabuto figure out the path Sakura and Karin were taking?" This catches everyone's attention because the path was only known to Sakura and Tsunade and secret to everyone else.

Tsunade's trembling seems to worsen as she shakes her head, her elbow on her desk and her hand to her forehead, hiding her closed and swollen eyes. ". . . I don't know," she says after a while, probably after succeeding in holding back tears and making sure her voice doesn't crack. "But if I did, I'd _kill_ those who leaked the information!" And the ferocity behind her words was all Kakashi and everyone else needed to know that she would go through with her threat.

Yamato teleports into the room then, his ANBU mask to the side. Team Kakashi is left in bewilderment. Didn't Yamato quit the ANBU when he became one of the supervisors of their team?

"Lady Tsunade," he bows his head in greeting.

"_What_?" She snaps, looking up for the first time. Everyone can see how red her face is. "You are only to report to me _weekly_!" She is furious, her line of thought broken. "Can't you _see_ I'm trying to figure out how to _save my apprentice_?"

Everyone winces at Tsunade's words. They feel sorry for Yamato who is the center of her anger.

"Forgive me, but you _want_ to know this," he continues. He is doing a good job of hiding any fear he had of the woman. "I was doing as you asked, watching the Elders for any suspicious activities, and…" He trails off for a moment, trying to think of a better way to word things.

"_And_?" Tsunade snarls. "Get _on_ with it!"

"They have been sending secret messages to someone whose identity I could not uncover. However, I have reason to believe it is related to Sakura's kidnapping."

"Why?" Tsunade is calmer now.

"They're sending the messages via a small white snake."

Another silence fills the room, a fury escalating.

"So it's _them_ again…" their Hokage retorts, her hands rolling into fists. "I should have known…"

"Lady Tsunade, you're not going to take this sitting down, are you?" Inoichi asks. He is the only one of the fathers to talk outwardly because he is the only one out of the three of them who really knows the hostage. Sakura had been and still is his daughter's best friend. As such, he saw Sakura as almost a second daughter like Tsunade did. For her to have been kidnapped, the fact wounded him. "They've been trying to undermine your power for _years_! This is probably their warning to you!"

"He is right," Hiashi states. "The Elders cannot be allowed to get away with something like this. We may have been ignorant when it came to the Uchiha massacre,"—at this, Sasuke glances at Naruto and sees that everyone else from their age group is not meeting his eyes now, Kakashi mouthing a "_not now_"—"but now that we know the facts… Tsunade, I hope you know that the Elders may not stop at Sakura if they _do_ get away with this. To weaken your power, they will continue to get rid of those closest to one. They will continue with Shizune and maybe the clans supporting you."

Tsunade's fists are so tight that her hands are bleeding. "_Never_," she growls in a whisper almost too quiet for anybody to hear. "I will _never_ let anything like that happen! Everyone here, listen up! This is your mission! It will be S-ranked, and it will count as _three_ missions!"

Konoha 11's eyes widen. _Three missions?_

Shikamaru's father was the one to explain. "The main focus of your mission will be the retrieval of Haruno Sakura," Shikaku stresses the fact. "However, there is the problem of Kabuto still if you were only to save your friend. You are also to, in the process of the retrieval mission, to dispose of him and any of his cronies, if he has any, while also protecting the village in the process. This will be a dangerous mission, and I can't guarantee that you all will survive, and so I ask you now: if there is anybody who _doesn't_ want to take this mission, please speak up."

No one did.

"I expected as much," Shikaku sighed. "You all are so troublesome."

"We'll be splitting into three groups," Shikamaru took over then. "The first group will be our main force. This group will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Sai, and Hinata. It is obvious why they are chosen. They will be the ones to go in and get Haruno Sakura. That will be the group's _only_ concern." He aims this last part to the first two people he named as they would surely be out to get Kabuto. "However, if the situation calls for battle, Hinata must stay to the side as she will be the medic nin for your group. She will be a crucial part of this operation as the enemy may use an arsenal of medical jutsu and poisons. Meanwhile, Sai will be the leader of this group and the messenger to the second group, giving hourly reports and giving the second group and the Hokage the heads-up if Kabuto chooses to change his mind and attack Konoha or tries to escape. The second group will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, Hyuga Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee, and me. Kiba and Shino will serve as the trackers, should Kabuto choose to escape. But if Kabuto chooses to attack Konoha, they, Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Choji shall be the ones to intercept him as the first group chases after him. Ino shall serve as the second group's medic nin, and I shall stay in this in-between group so that I can communicate to the other two groups easier. Neji shall be the leader of this group while I shall foresee the whole operation. Now the last group shall consist of our sensei, Might Gai, Hatake Kakashi, Yuhi Kurenai (though she shall _not_ be doing anything physical because of her pregnancy), and Yamato. They will all be staying behind and protect Konoha, in case Kabuto is planning on luring us all out to ambush the village. If this fear is for naught then Kakashi shall meet up with the second group if Kabuto decides to head for Konoha. Kurenai shall be the group's diversion, if Kabuto does manage to reach Konoha. She will cast a genjutsu to slow him down so that the other two groups can reach home to deal with Kabuto while Gai and Yamato shall keep him out of the village. Understood?"

Everyone gave either a "yes" or a nod of the head.

"Good," Tsunade says. "Now I want this on the down-low, got it? The Elders _can't_ know about this, and so the groups that shall leave Konoha will leave from the back gates. I will come up with an excuse to tell the Elders." There were no objections to this either. "In addition, Shikamaru, you will have to make some openings in your plan. I have three other people I want to add into your team. Karin will be one of those three." This last sentence received some complaints.

"But Lady Tsunade, Karin has only _just_ been healed by you and Shizune!" Hinata argued. "She… She is in no condition to be—"

"Kabuto wants her to be the one to lead Sasuke and Naruto to him," Tsunade explained.

The Hyuga heiress nods her head in understanding and says nothing more, looking to Ino now whose knuckles have turned white. In truth, another one of Hinata's reasons why Karin shouldn't go with them is because she's afraid Ino might blame the redhead for the current situation Sakura was in.

"Now, since there are no further complications, you shall all meet at the back gates in half an hour. Any questions?"

There weren't any but determined looks on the shinobi's faces. The Hokage is grateful her apprentice has such good friends.

"And one more thing before you leave… Tsutsuji, you may come in now!" the Hokage calls out into the hallway, and a tall redhead walks in.

"Hey!" Naruto points at him. "You're the delivery guy for Ichiraku's! What are _you_ doing here?"

"Show some manners!" Neji scolds him.

"Naruto-kun," Lee says, "This is Sakura-san's older brother."

Naruto's eyes widen for a minute, and he is quiet for a long while until… "_WHAT_? SAKURA-CHAN HAD AN OLDER _BROTHER,_ AND _I_ NEVER _KNEW_ ABOUT HIM! TEME, DID _YOU_ KNOW ABOUT THIS?"

"_Tch_, stop screaming, Dobe."

"Will these be the ninja who will be going after my sister?" Tsutsuji asks.

"Yes, but you don't have to worry," Tsunade answers him. "They are the best Konoha has, even though they don't act like it at times."

"If you trust in them, Lady Tsunade, then it's enough for me," Sakura's brother tells the Hokage before turning to the group of ninja. "_Please_! Save my little sister!" He bows his head. This gesture stops Naruto from screaming any further. "If I were a ninja then I'd be going too, but the fact is I'm not, and I don't even have enough money to pay you all for this mission…"

"Tsutsuji-kun…" Ino does not know how to comfort him. It was bad enough for her that her best friend was kidnapped. She couldn't imagine how horrid a nightmare Tsutsuji was living in, knowing that he was helpless when his own sister was in danger.

"Sakura is my younger sister… And I love her so much…" He is crying right now. "But I was always unable to do anything for her or my mother… The best I can only do for my family is to earn money and make sure we have enough to eat, but Sakura… Sakura's always been the sunshine for us. She's always been there and always getting us out of tough times. It still seems like only minutes ago when she told us about her mission, when she told us she'd be back before we knew it… Please _save_ her… I will gladly do anything for you all just to see her safe at home once again. Please… She's the only thing my mother and I have left of our father… _Please_… Bring her home… I don't know how I'll tell my mother she's gone… I don't know how it'll be for us if Sakura's not safe… I don't know how we'd live if she was…" He is unable to finish his words, sobbing terribly now.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Naruto was the first one out of the Hokage's office, teleporting himself right after he reassured Tsutsuji that he'd bring Sakura home. He quickly stuffed his backpack with a set of spare clothes, food, medicine, weapons, and anything else he deemed was necessary. He was done within minutes and was ready to leave the room when a figure appeared on his window still.

"You're done packing already?" he asks the Uchiha.

"_Tch_, I have nothing _to_ pack."

"Oh… Right…"

"And besides, looking at how much you're packing, I'm set as long as that's not _all_ ramen in there." The Uchiha eyes the backpack which Naruto has filled in beyond reason.

"No, a lot of it's just medicine and some food for Sakura-chan…" Naruto explained, his hand clutches on to the item Tsutsuji gave him to pass on to Sakura when they find her. "I want to be prepared, in case Kabuto tortured her…"

Sasuke says nothing about that. "We'll get her back," he stated, an aloofness to his voice almost sounding like overconfidence.

That has Naruto boiling. "DOES SAKURA MEAN ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ TO YOU NOW? HOW COULD YOU STAY SO CALM WHEN SHE'S OUT THERE IN _DANGER_?"

"Dobe, if you get so worked up then maybe we might _not_ be able to succeed, after all."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW IF WE'LL SUCCEED OR NOT, _HUH_? IT TOOK US _YEARS_ TO GET YOU BACK! YEARS, SASUKE! _YEARS_! HOW DO YOU KNOW IT WON'T BE THE SAME WITH _HER_?"

"Because," Sasuke answers, "the situation is a lot more different than mine was. For one, she's not there because of her own will. And for another thing . . . the team has _me_."

That was all that needed to be said for Naruto to stop yelling and to smile. Team 7 was slowly fixing itself. It certainly was coming back together again. All that was needed was Sakura-chan.

"_Aw_, Teme! I _knew_ you cared!"

". . ."

"_Itai_! Why did you _zap_ me for?"

". . . Don't _ever_ hug me again."

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

When they left Naruto's building, they met up with Sai who had also finished packing. He made some weird comments but nothing as bad as his usual ones, probably because of the situation at hand. The three journeyed to the back gates via rooftop, quickly and unseen.

Sasuke hated how familiar the setting was. It was dark, just like the night he left. But instead of Sakura begging him not to leave now, it was him who was going to bring her back. He hated how ironic life was.

"Oh, the girls got here before us," Sai made a note as they came closer to the group that was already waiting there. "They—" His sentence was cut off when the three of them saw Ino slap Karin in the face.

"IT'S ALL _YOUR_ FAULT!" the blonde shrieked, grabbing the sensor nin by her shoulders. "IT'S _ALL_ YOUR FAULT! HOW _DARE_ YOU COME BACK HERE WITH_OUT_ HER!" Hinata and Tenten were trying to pry her hands off of Karin. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN SHOW YOUR FACE AROUND ME!"

The boys all rushed to the scene as the two girls were able, with Shizune's help, to restrain the Yamanaka.

"I . . . You don't know how _sorry_ I am…" the crying redhead was on her knees. "I know you won't forgive me… But I _am_ sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect her! You don't know how much I regret not being able to take her place! I wish it was _me_ instead!"

Ino scoffed. "Do you think you can get my pity by _begging_?" she asked. "YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR _MIND_!"

"Ino, that's _enough_!" Shikamaru appeared then, along with the rest of Konoha 11. "Or I'm taking you _out_ of this mission! You're not the only one who is worried about Sakura! Stop putting blame on others for this troublesome mess!"

The kunoichi glares at her teammate before ripping herself away from Tenten and Hinata. She glares one last time at Karin who Shizune is helping up.

"_Wow_! Konoha just keeps getting better and better! They actually made Karin _cry_ when even_ I_ couldn't!"

Sasuke seems to have twitched when he heard that voice. _It better not be…_ From his past experience, he knew that if this guy was on the same team as Karin and put together with Naruto and Sai then he'd _never_ get a minute of peace during this mission.

"Suigetsu," he greets the ex-Hebi members. "Juugo."

"Hey, Sui!" Naruto high-fived the ex-Kiri nin. "Haven't seen you in a while! What's up, Juugo? How have you been?"

"Good," Juugo answered. "Tsunade-sama has healed me completely. I don't have the urge to kill anymore."

"Yo, Sasuke my man," Suigetsu said. "I don't know why you wanted Konoha destroyed! I'm just lovin' it here!"

"That's makes two of us," Naruto laughs along with him. This earns him a bump on the head from the Uchiha.

"I take it that you two are the others Tsunade-sama has in mind for this mission," Neji stated.

The Hokage nodded her head. "These two shall join the second group as they have more knowledge about Kabuto than the rest of us."

"Yeah, I can't wait to sock it to that snake for experimenting on me!" Suigetsu cheered. His words are seconded by everyone else there.

"And another word…" Tsunade took a deep breath. "I'm not speaking as the Hokage anymore when I say this: I believe in your skills. That is why I'm sending you all in my place to get my apprentice back. If I wasn't Hokage, if I needn't stay behind to protect the village . . . then I'd go by myself to save Sakura. But I _can't_ do that. That is why… I'm _begging_ you all: _please_!" She bows her head and, for the first time, she cries in front of the shinobi there.

"Lady Tsunade…" Shizune looks away, unable to watch. She too feels the same way.

"Bring her _home_! Bring my apprentice back to where she belongs! I was unable to protect her! I was unable to stop any of these events from happening, and so _please_… Save her and bring her back _alive_!"

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! That chapter's done! And really quickly too! I'm so happy!<strong>

**Oh, and yes, I gave Sakura a family! I _need_ them in the story. I really do once we get into the third part of the story. Tsutsuji doesn't have that big of a role now, and he really won't have that big of a role except to add a sort of drama into the story. I'm sorry if you guys don't like him right now.**

**The beginning is also in present tense because it felt like it fit better for the mood.**

**I like Tsunade in this chapter, though I rushed through everything. She has that nice role.**

**Please review!**


	10. Part One, Chapter Seven: Inner Pt 1

As Karin hugged her knees closer to her chest, she couldn't help but feel the familiarity of déjà vu pulling her under. She cursed the heavens, not even daring to glance up at her surroundings. She would rather curse them than Shikamaru. After all, _Shikamaru_ did not even have the slightest clue as to how close they are to the place where she and Sakura had been separated. It was not _his_ fault that he chose this area as the rendezvous point for the second team. And it was not _his_ fault but _hers_ that Sakura was Kabuto's hostage, the thought seemed to keep repeating itself in the redhead's mind. It churned and spun and made her almost nauseous. And it didn't help her either, knowing that Ino's hostility was directly pointed at her too. And if it were not for Shikamaru's warnings then Ino might have even attacked the redhead too. But the tracker nin did not make any hasty comments to her defense, though. Ino had every right to be mad at her. And with Ino like this, Karin didn't even want to know what Naruto thought of her now. He may have been the last of her family, but he had been Sakura's friend first. Karin knew Naruto must have been more than angry with her. And it was the thought of disappointing her only living relative left that upset her even further.

Next to the troubled girl, Suigetsu just sighed. His nasty insults were locked away for now because he could not believe the sniffling girl sitting right by him was the same snarky bitch who always argued with him. His eyes shifted to the blonde right across the campfire. He almost winced from the harsh sneer Ino was shooting in Karin's way. He felt even worse for Karin now. But to hide any hints of any pity he felt for the redhead, Suigetsu looked around the camp, but even more sympathy welled inside of him. These two teams were made up of all of Sakura's friends and some of her closest too—all twelve of them, in fact. It was no wonder that they were all gloomy right now. Suigetsu did not even want to try and lighten the mood, for fear of angering them all.

He glanced at Juugo, but the much larger man also did not know what to do. And so, the ex-Kiri nin just took a risk and asked out loud, "Karin, do you want to tell us what happened with Kabuto and how you and Sakura got separated?"

"Suigetsu," Juugo cautioned his friend not to speak more than that, but everyone had woken from their thoughts and was now focusing their attention on the redhead who began to tremble hard.

"Are you _crying_?" Ino could hardly believe it. She ignored Choji and Shikamaru who were trying to calm her down once more. She looked almost feral, ready to jump. "It should be _us_ who are crying! Who is Sakura to you but the medic who saved your life? She's _nothing_ to you! That's why you came back to Konoha _alone_!"

"Don't you _dare_ say that to me!" Karin, for the first time since the mission started, was done hiding her face. And for the first time since the mission started, Karin actually defended herself. "She's not just your friend! She's mine too! She was the first female friend I made in my life! She's helped me so many times already… I'm grateful to her for saving my life, for being friends with me, and for helping me get situated in Konoha and get me started in a better life! Don't you think I'm hurting too? For not being able to help her when she needed it and when she's given me help so many times already?"

Ino didn't say anymore but held her glare for a few more seconds before jumping into the trees and disappearing from sight.

Shikamaru just stuffed his hands into his pocket before shaking his head. He addressed Tenten, but the weapons' mistress already knew what he was going to ask and followed after Ino. "Don't take what she said to heart," he told Karin. "She's just upset. We all are."

"Karin."

The redhead turned her head to the side, only to be met by Naruto's hard-to-read face. She felt as though her heart was torn into pieces just by the feel of how heartbreaking his chakra signature was.

"Please," he begged. "You have to tell me what went down with Kabuto."

She turned away from his sad gaze, blaming herself even more for causing her cousin to worry so much about his teammate. ". . . It's not something you'd want to hear… That whole night, she wouldn't talk. She kept staring out into space…" She stared at the fire, remembering the way Sakura looked into the campfire. She would never forget how broken and lonely the pinkette looked. "I think she regretted taking the mission, but she wouldn't tell me anything. We put out the fire and went to sleep. She woke me up just a bit afterwards." She left out the part of her fearing that Sakura had entered her tent in hopes of killing her. "There were thieves, but they posed no problem for her." She also left out the part of how frightening Sakura had been and how dangerous she had seemed. "She made quick work of them." And she left out the part of Sakura using the very jutsu Tsunade had forbid her to use. "We weren't tired anymore after that fiasco, and so we continued into the night." She let out a wry laugh, most likely laughing at her fault that night. "Even if we were to have stayed put, Kabuto was probably already there in the shadows because we already felt as though someone was following us since that point in the mission. And when we realized who it was, Sakura switched our positions. She kept watching out for me when it should have been me who was watching out for her." Her fists tightened, her long nails digging into her palms. It should have hurt her, but the pain was dulled by the remorse she felt. "We were no match for Kabuto, we knew it, and so we ran, but we weren't fast enough. He caught up quickly. Sakura . . . she lost a lot of blood, but that was all I saw before she told me that she would distract Kabuto and that I should go and find help. I couldn't even follow her orders… Kabuto got to me before I could even argue with her. I fell unconscious and, the next thing I knew, I woke up in a strange place. Sakura was nowhere in sight, Kabuto tortured me before he told me to lead Sasuke and Naruto to him, and then . . . nothing. I was back in Konoha. I don't know anything else…"

Another silence befell the group. No one knew or had anything to say. Even Naruto looked at a crossroads. He seemed as though he wanted to cry but couldn't because he had to finish this mission. But when Sasuke chose to be the voice of reason, everyone was shocked out of their daze.

"It's not your fault," the Uchiha said. "What could you or Sakura have done in that situation? None of us had expected Kabuto to attack, especially not this brazenly so soon." He had been so sure his brother had killed Kabuto during their encounter in the war. He had no idea how Kabuto could have survived. "You weren't prepared. In fact, none of us were. But what's the use of sulking about it?" he asked, looking the redhead in the eyes for the first time since he had tried to kill her. "All we have to do now is just get Sakura back and beat the crap out of the bastard who took her."

"You make it sound so easy," was all Karin could say. Did Sasuke think that saying all of that would make her feel better about not being able to protect Sakura? If he did then he was sorely wrong.

"Of course, he does," Suigetsu said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I thought _you_ of all people would remember that from our Team Hebi times."

And for the first time in a long while, Karin cracked a small smile.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"Ino…"

"I know, I _know_…" The blonde ran her hand through her golden strands of hair and sighed. "What I said was uncalled for, but I'm _not_ apologizing to her."

Tenten swallowed back the lecture she was going to give her friend but thought against it, being too tired to want to argue. "Let's go back, Ino," she suggested. "We've got a long day tomorrow. We can sort all of this out after we get Sakura back."

"I'm not leaving Sakura in her hands, Tenten." There was a determination in Ino's eyes that had Tenten almost frightened. She had a plan, and an Ino with a plan was not something to be trifled with.

The weapons mistress bit her bottom lip. She had an inkling of what Ino was hinting at, but she couldn't bring herself to believe that her friend would do something so reckless. "Ino, just…" Tenten didn't finish her sentence. She shook her head, knowing that she wouldn't be able to make Ino chance her mind. "When will you…?"

"Right after Naruto's team leaves."

"Ino, I don't want any more of my friends getting hurt. You better have thought this through."

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

"Tsunade-sama, _please_… Send the ANBU after them," Shizune pleaded. She trusted Konoha 11 to bring Sakura back, but that trust didn't relieve her worries. "It took both Sasuke and his brother to take Kabuto down before. I doubt it's going to be the same outcome this time since Itachi is—"

"Shizune, be quiet and give me my sake!"

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune begged again. "I don't want to see any of them die! Especially not after the war that's just ended!"

"Just trust in them to do their jobs," the Hokage said before throwing a few files into her assistant's hands. "And we'll do ours. Don't forget, we've got problems at home too." And with that, Tsunade opened up another file and wrote down any legal proceedings that could help her bring down the Elders. "The ANBU are needed here more than ever now."

Shizune couldn't argue anymore after that. After all, all this could happen again if the Elders were allowed to have free reign as they always had. And she'd do anything in her power to put an end to those Elders once and for all.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

They left at the first ray of sunlight breaking through the dark sky. Being the leader, Sai followed right behind Karin as she led the group while Naruto and Sasuke were right in the middle, stationed so that they could deflect any ambush that came to the group. And lastly, Hinata covered their rear, watching for any potential danger with her Byakugan. But being the last person, the Hyuga heiress could see how tense her childhood crush was, and that saddened her. If the situation had been less serious then Hinata would have wished that Naruto would regard her with such emotions but, with the situation at hand, Hinata could only blame herself for not being able to see the stress that Sakura had carried.

_If I had then maybe Sakura wouldn't have left on this mission in the first place… If she hadn't then…_ She gasped then, her Byakugan spotting a large ominous amount of chakra heading their way. "Stop!" And the group halted in their tracks.

"What's the matter, Hinata-chan?"

A dark laughter echoed through the forest. "It would appear that you need to train your eyes a bit more, Naruto-kun." And the scaly figure cloaked in black materialized on a nearby tree branch just in front of the team.

"Where's Sakura-chan, you _bastard_?" Naruto screamed, his attention now to his enemy. If he hadn't learned to control the Kyuubi then its chakra would have been pouring out at this moment.

But Kabuto ignored the boy's question, answering with only, "Patience is a virtue," before turning to the redhead kunoichi. "I thought I told you to lead only Naruto and Sasuke here. And yet, you bring two more Konoha brats?"

"Cut the crap!" Karin screamed, finding it weird that Kabuto's chakra wasn't spiking as if he were about to enter a battle. Did he think he could just get away from them unscathed after what he had done? Why was he so nonchalant? "Where did you take Sakura?"

But again, Kabuto didn't answer, only laughing hysterically. His laughter faded when he disappeared out of the team's line of sight.

"Get back here!" Naruto yelled, Sasuke and Hinata both using their bloodline traits to find where Kabuto had went.

"Get out of the way!" It was Sai who had barked out this order, but it was too late.

A lithe figure landed right in the middle of the group, her fist punching the ground underneath her. A huge bang exploded, and the ground cracked open, causing everyone to lose their balance. Naruto was in a phase of confusion and fear. Hinata had just been right by the spot that had just crumbled. Where was she? Why wasn't he able to find her? And his second fear was shared by the rest of his group, only to be confirmed when the debris that had risen cleared out.

The shock was evident on everyone's faces, even Sasuke's, when they saw the signature pink hair of their attacker, but no one dared try to confirm it.

"Sa . . . Sakura…" It was Karin who spoke, albeit with quavering lips and wide eyes, when the girl slung the unconscious Hyuga heiress onto her shoulder and fled.

"_SAKURA_!" Naruto was the first to follow after her.

"No, Naruto!" But Sai's warning came upon deaf ears as the jinchūriki raced after the two kunoichi. "We can't go after them like this," he said to the remaining two with him. "We need a plan of attack, and we need to relay this to Shikamaru's group in case Sakura goes after them."

"Don't say that as if she's doing it _willingly_!" Karin cried, her mind reeling with possibilities. "Her chakra… It's hers, but something's off about it… And her eyes were clouded over… If it's really her then she doesn't have a clue as to what she's doing."

The Uchiha just remained silent, trying to process the events that just took place. Sakura, Haruno Sakura, just attacked them. He would have laughed at the thought if it had not just happened. Like Karin, he knew that Sakura wouldn't be able to do something against her nature willingly. Kabuto must have done something to her.

"Exactly. She's dangerous if that's the case." But Sai was not one to drop the case. "If Kabuto is pulling the strings then we've got trouble. Sakura was distressed when she left for her mission. If Kabuto is indeed controlling her then she'll go after those who've caused her pain. And her pain just makes it easier for Kabuto to control her actions."

"Yeah, you've got that right," an accusing voice came from behind them. "But that wasn't Sakura."

The three turned around, only to be met with a pissed off kunoichi.

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><p><strong>Um . . . yeah, sorry for updating so slowly and sorry for the horribly rushed chapter. I actually needed time to organize my ideas. I kind of didn't like the fact that I put Sakura's family in the last chapter because I was trying to make this sort of like canon, so I was debating whether or not to change that chapter. This is also a shorter chapter since I couldn't think of a way to continue this chapter and because I just wanted to update this story really quickly. The next chapter will be much longer.<strong>

**Also, if you don't remember, the groups are as followed:  
><strong>**First group = Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Hinata, and Karin  
><strong>**second group = Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Suigetsu, and Juugo**

**Also, I haven't figured it out yet, but how many of you want Itachi to be in this fanfic?**


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